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horse chestnut

   Also found in: Medical, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
horse chestnut
n.
1. Any of several trees of the genus Aesculus, especially the European species A. hippocastanum, having opposite, palmately compound leaves, erect clusters of white flowers tinged with red or yellow, and spiny or smooth capsules containing large shiny brown seeds.
2. The seed of any of these plants.

[Perhaps from a former use to cure cough in horses.]
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horse chesnut
Aesculus hippocastanum

horse chestnut
n
1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) any of several trees of the genus Aesculus, esp the Eurasian A. hippocastanum, having palmate leaves, erect clusters of white, pink, or red flowers, and brown shiny inedible nuts enclosed in a spiky bur: family Hippocastanaceae
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) Also called conker the nut of this tree
[so called from its having been used in the treatment of respiratory disease in horses]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.horse chestnut - tree having palmate leaves and large clusters of white to red flowers followed by brown shiny inedible seedshorse chestnut - tree having palmate leaves and large clusters of white to red flowers followed by brown shiny inedible seeds
Aesculus, genus Aesculus - deciduous trees or some shrubs of North America; southeastern Europe; eastern Asia
sweet buckeye - a tall and often cultivated buckeye of the central United States
Ohio buckeye - a buckeye with scaly grey bark that is found in the central United States
bottlebrush buckeye, dwarf buckeye - a spreading shrub with pink flowers; found in southeastern United States
red buckeye - a shrub buckeye of southern United States
particolored buckeye - a buckeye marked by different colors or tints
angiospermous tree, flowering tree - any tree having seeds and ovules contained in the ovary
2.horse chestnut - the inedible nutlike seed of the horse chestnuthorse chestnut - the inedible nutlike seed of the horse chestnut
seed - a small hard fruit
Translations
horse chestnut n (tree) → ippocastano; (nut) → castagna d'India


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The Horse Chestnut gets its common and scientific names from the fact that people living in the South East of Europe, where the tree originates from, fed the conkers to horses as a form of medicine, thus the horse in the common name and hippo (Greek for horse) in the scientific name.
The Woodland Trust has predicted that an early crop of conkers could be damaged by the horse chestnut leaf miner moth which is drying out leaves and turning them brown.
Horse Chestnut This herb is often recommended if there is a presence of poor blood circulation in the veins.
 
 
 
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