Any of a group of trees, especially
A. hippocastanum, originally from southeastern Europe but widely planted elsewhere. Horse chestnuts have large palmate (five-lobed) leaves, showy upright spikes of white, pink, or red flowers, and large, shiny, inedible seeds (conkers) in prickly green capsules. The horse chestnut is not related to the true chestnut. In North America it is called buckeye. (Genus
Aesculus, family Hippocastanaceae.)
© RM 2009. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.