Horse chestnuts, or conkers, are the seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum. Though native to Southeastern Europe, A. hippocastanum is found worldwide in parks and on streetsides. These trees have white flowers which grow in clusters called panicles, and each panicle grows only a few conkers.
This is a conker, or horse chestnut, from the horse chestnut tree. In the United Kingdom children use them for conker wars, and during the world wars they were used as a source of starch. Young conkers, however, contain alkaloid saponins and glucosides, which are moderately poisonous.
