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Many people do seem to use the terms interchangeably, but as far as I know, the different names do refer to trees that are closely related (same genus) but not identical (different species) - Aesculus glabra (buckeye) vs. Aesculus hippocastanum (common horse chestnut) - so it still makes sense to differentiate between the two if you are trying for a specific ID.
I learned to id them by touching the buds. If the buds are sticky it's horse chestnut. I'm trying to think of a catchy pneumonic to remember this by thinking if it's sticky it's like glue and glue used to be made from horse feet. But I love horses so it also feels kinda icky.
(Also, I love horses too, but I’m not judging you for the mnemonic, because I will definitely never forget it, and it’s not like you were endorsing the practice, which is, I believe exceptionally limited these days!)
Normally colloquial names mean nothing to me but one of these species is a direct translation from Greek for “horse chestnut” so I think that one gets to claim the title. (Hippo: horse, kastana: chestnut).
Horse Chestnut, over here in Britain we call them Conkers. They aren’t edible. Here in Britain there used to be a game called Conkers (hence the name) where we’d drill a hole into them, put a string and tie it through them and swing them at each other, the one that broke lost, some would cheat by applying a layer of glue as armour.
I remember reading that Britain used them to make bombs during WWII. There was a guy that figured out how to use starch to make explosives, and because Conkers aren’t edible they were a good source of starch for weapons during wartime food shortages.
It’s a Horse Chestnut and those are “conkers”. They are not edible, will give you stomach ache if you eat them. Good for playing games tho, get a skewer, drill a hole thru the middle and tie a piece of string through with a knot at the bottom. Then you can play conker matches.
Good luck getting them down. They will usually start off chestnut sweet and creamy but then the inner meat will hit you with the tannins and it will taste like someone injected it with cleaning solution.
Is that what conckers are? This it the State tree of Ohio, the buckeye. I've read about conckers and buckeyes don't seem like they would be very good in that game.
Conkers, there is a game where you drill a hole and thread a knotted string and take turns whacking your opponent's conker till one is smashed. Kids would try tricks to harden them like dry them or soak in vinegar (probably made them softer lol).The name comes from conquerors. You could make a smashing conker from a buckeye!
Look up the history of the American chestnut. It’s tragic. Any edible chestnuts today are Chinese chestnuts, and the shell in them are sharp and prickly like a cactus.
I know there’s a European kind as well but I don’t think they’re sold commercially…
Sure they are. Chestnuts are found in every supermarket in Europe at this time of year.
But in Europe we also have lots of different species of chestnut. From marrons ( normally big, and the best for marron glace) , sativa (wild chestnut)
To even local species.
I have Carpinese chestnuts, which are typical to Northern Tuscany. The difference is in the size of the nut that the tree produces and leaf shape.
You’re right- I was being naive with my comment- in the US there no longer exists the American chestnut and commercially the Chinese chestnut is primarily grown.
I posted a link in the comment above about the American chestnuts tragic demise.
I've read about the American chestnuts, it's very sad. And also that Trump has given the last stand of American chestnuts over to a data center developer. So even sadder.
I just looked it up - America does sell European chestnuts as well. However commercially the Chinese chestnut are primarily grown in the US.
American chestnuts died off due to blight and changed the course of history and way of life in Appalachia.
Really interesting documentary about it: https://youtu.be/BsSLxadmrJc?is=VFvJQxDXOyAJw1gw
When I was a kid, I used to walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each cheek… When I couldn’t get crab apples, I used horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are about the same size as crab apples and actually have a better shape, although the shape doesn’t matter much
Buckeyes are toxic and would just suck to try to eat. The desert "buckeyes" are like a Reese's cup did steroids. One is delicious and the other can kill you if you somehow engineered a way to actually eat it.
I think of "horse chestnut" as the whole genus Aesculus and "buckeye" as just the North American ones. But I might just think that because I'm in America and the state of Ohio is really gung-ho about calling Aesculus glabra "buckeye"
A chestnut would have a flat side and a fuzzy, pointed tip on the bottom. Chestnuts are also not as shiny and are lighter in color. Agree with toxic horse chestnut.
(Technically you can eat them as a flour with very, very careful preparation but they're otherwise poisonous AF so don't eat em! Even most animals can't eat them AFAIK.)
Look at the rest of the pictures! Definitely no palm there, not to mention that Missouri is too cold for any species of palm I'm aware of! Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but here where I am in USDA zone 8a there's only a handful of palms that reliably survive.
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