Aesculus turbinata

Summary

Aesculus turbinata, common name Japanese horse-chestnut (Tochinoki or Tochi (トチノキ(栃の木) or トチ(栃、橡))), is native to Japan but cultivated elsewhere. It is a tree up to 30 m (98 ft) tall. Flowers are white to pale yellowish with red spots. Capsules are dark brown, obovoid to pyriform.[4][1] The seeds were traditionally eaten, after leaching, by the Jōmon people of Japan over about four millennia, until 300 AD.[5] Today the seeds are used in Japanese cuisine to prepare "Tochimochi".

Aesculus turbinata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Aesculus
Species:
A. turbinata
Binomial name
Aesculus turbinata
Blume
Synonyms[1][2][3]
  • Aesculus turbinata f. pubescens (Rehder) Ohwi ex Yas Endo
  • Aesculus turbinata var. pubescens Rehder
  • Aesculus dissimilis Blume
  • Pawia dissimilis Kuntze
  • Pawia turbinata Kuntze

Etymology edit

Aesculus was named by Linnaeus, and the name is derived from the Roman name, aesculus, of the durmast oak.[6]

Turbinata means ‘conical’, ‘turbinate’, or ‘top-shaped’.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Flora of China vol 12 page 4.
  2. ^ Tropicos Aesculus turbinata
  3. ^ Plant list Aesculus turbinata
  4. ^ Blume, Rumphia. 3: 195. 1847.
  5. ^ Harlan, Jack R. (1995). The Living Fields: Our Agricultural Heritage (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-521-40112-7.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.
  6. ^ a b Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521866453 (hardback), ISBN 9780521685535 (paperback). p 38, 391

External links edit

  • The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research: Tochimochi