What is the common name for the seeds of horse-chestnut trees?
Conkers Conkers Conkers is a traditional children's game in Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one breaks. The first mention of the game is in Robert Southey's memoirs published in 1821. He describes a similar game, but played with snail shells or hazelnuts. It was only from the 1850s that using horse chestnuts was regularly referred to in
Bleeding canker of horse chestnut Bleeding canker of horse chestnut Bleeding canker of horse chestnut is a common canker of horse chestnut trees ("Aesculus hippocastanum", also known as conker trees) that is known to be caused by infection with several different pathogens. Infections by the gram-negative fluorescent bacterium "Pseudomonas syringae" pathovar "aesculi" are a new phenomenon, and have caused most of the bleeding cankers on horse chestnut that are now frequently seen in Britain. "Pseudomonas syringae pv. Aesculi" is a bacterium that causes bleeding canker of horse chestnut. The pathogen overwinters in the soil and can survive in the soil for about a year. It