Aesculus turbinata, common name Japanese horse-chestnut ( or ), is native to Japan but cultivated elsewhere. It is a tree up to tall. Flowers are white to pale yellowish with red spots. Capsules are dark brown, obovoid to pyriform.Blume, Rumphia. 3: 195. 1847.Flora of China vol 12 page 4. The seeds were traditionally eaten, after leaching, by the Jōmon people of Japan over about four millennia, until 300 AD.Harlan cites Akazawa, T & Aikens, CM, Prehistoric Hunter-Gathers in Japan (1986), Univ. Tokyo Press; and cites Aikens, CM & Higachi, T, Prehistory of Japan (1982), NY Academic Press. Today the seeds are used in Japanese cuisine to prepare tochimochi.
Etymology Aesculus was named by Linnaeus, and the name is derived from the Roman name, aesculus, of the durmast oak.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). p 38, 391
Turbinata means ‘conical’, ‘turbinate’, or ‘top-shaped’.
References
External links
The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research: Tochimochi