Horse Chestnut – The Daily Flower for 1 October

Luxury! Sheer luxury! That’s hardly an image muddy British schoolboys evoke when they emerge, battle victorious, from the playground. But, then again, they’ve been bandying about the seeds of the horse chestnut tree, not the flowers.

Horse chestnut flowers by Reijii

Conkers aren’t lavish items by any means, but the flowers of Aesculus hippocastanum are hardly the epitome of opulence, either. Perhaps it’s the small red dot on the sheer white blossoms, a bit like a sold sticker below an artwork in a fancy gallery, that inspired the Victorian floriographers – anachronisms and all that aside.

Although, seeing that the panicles of blossoms are used to create a Bach flower remedy that banishes unwanted thoughts and mental arguments, the floral connotation could be referring to the most desireably deluxe state of mind.

Good for giving to: Posh schoolboys with muddled minds.

Great horse chestnut flowers in literature: A deluxe description from Ms Montgomery:

“Girls, sometimes I feel as if those exams meant everything, but when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and the misty blue air at the end of the streets they don't seem half so important.”
From Anne of Green Gables

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Tags: flowers, horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, floriography