Horse Chestnut

Aesculus hippocastanum.
Apparently poisonous to horses, but not to deer.

I familiar with it only from 18th c. France where the juice was extracted as a whitener for linen and wool. I think this is where the term "bluing" may have originated? I'm told the nut extract is also a good venous tonic.

I'm meeting this giant for the first time here on PEI and marveling. They can grow up to 36 metres tall! During a walk after supper on the night I arrived I came upon one and was astonished by its splendor and height and angelfood conical flowers. I've since learned they're native to the mountains of the Balkans and small areas of northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria. And that the flower is the symbol of the city of Kiev.

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