A genus of trees including the horse chestnut and buckeye, native to the Northern Hemisphere and prized for their large compound leaves and showy flowers.
From Latin Aesculus, the name given to a type of oak or similar tree by Roman naturalists. The exact origin is uncertain but may relate to food ('esculent') since the nuts were occasionally eaten.
Horse chestnut trees are so recognizable with their massive sticky buds that open into enormous hand-shaped leaves that Victorian schoolchildren used to collect and play games with them—and those shiny brown seeds (conkers) have been treasured by kids for over a hundred years.
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