Each leaf is split into big, toothed leaflets, five to seven, all meeting at one point at the end of the stalk. Each leaflet is broadest near its tip.
Introduced, naturalised · Up to 39 m
Horse chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum · Sapindaceae
Horse chestnut grows into a massive dome. Its big leaves have five to seven leaflets joined straight to the end of one long stalk. White flower candles cover it in May.
Often mistaken for sweet chestnut. How to tell them apart →Know it byLeavesFive to seven toothed leaflets, all from one point.
ConkersSpiny husks, usually with one conker in each.
CandlesUpright white spikes in May, each flower with a yellow or red patch.
LeavesFive to seven toothed leaflets, all from one point.ConkersSpiny husks, usually with one conker in each.CandlesUpright white spikes in May, each flower with a yellow or red patch.Then check · Sticky budsIn winter, stout shoots carry big, sticky, reddish brown buds, and under each side bud is a pale horseshoe-shaped mark where a leaf fell, with seven small dots round it.
How to identify a horse chestnut
In summer, green husks covered in sharp spines hang from the tree. In autumn they split open to show a pale lining and, usually, a single glossy brown conker.
In May the tree carries upright spikes of white flowers, called candles. Each flower has a yellow patch at the base of its petals that turns red once it has been pollinated.
Learn the horse chestnut in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely
Every part, in photographs
oliverc29, CC BY 4.0
Kieran Roy Powell, CC BY 4.0
Florin Feneru, CC BY 4.0When to look
JFMAMJJASOND
In leaf
Flowers
Conkers
In leaf: March to November · Flowers: April to May · Conkers: June to October
Every tree on the calendar · How to identify trees in winter
Where you’ll find it
Parks, streets, avenues, village greens and churchyards throughout Britain and Ireland, growing best in eastern and south-eastern England. Seldom found in woodland, though it sometimes seeds itself into scrub and hedges.
More maples and horse chestnut
In the app
There’s more of the horse chestnut in Treely
- Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
- Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
- A short round each dayUntil you know the horse chestnut on sight, from any side
- Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: Florin Feneru (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), oliverc29 (CC BY 4.0), yunruse (CC0), outdoorsyduck21 (CC0), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.