''Aesculus turbinata'', common name Japanese horse-chestnut (), 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.Flora of China vol 12 page 4.
/ref> The seeds were traditionally eaten, after leaching, by the

Jōmon people The Jōmon (縄文) were a prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture that inhabited the Japanese archipelago approximately between 14,000 BC and 300 BC. Both genetically and culturally, the Jōmon are among the earliest known ancestors of the modern ...

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 Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, and the name is derived from the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

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
{{Authority control turbinata Endemic flora of Japan Trees of Japan