Are you bonkers? Are there really different types of conkers?

Apart from the horse chestnut, which is the only Aesculus species native to Europe, there are twelve other species of Hippocastanum found throughout the northern hemisphere, mainly in eastern Asia and the eastern United States. There is also a single species native to western North America, and another native to north-western Mexico (Hardin, 1960).

Species of Hippocastanum

• A. hippocastanum: horse chestnut. Bulgaria, northern Greece, southern Albania.
• A. × carnea: red horse chestnut.
• A. turbinata: Japanese horse chestnut. Japan.
• A. californica: buckeye. California, United States.
• A. parryi: Parry buckeye. California, Mexico.
• A. flava: sweet or yellow buckeye. South-eastern United States.
• A. glabra: Ohio buckeye. South-eastern United States.
• A. pavia: red buckeye. South-eastern United States.
• A. parviflora: dwarf buckeye. South-eastern United States.
• A. sylvatica: no common name. South-eastern United States.
• A. assamica: no common name. Northern Siam, north-western Indochina, southern China, north-eastern Pakistan, Bhutan.
• A. indica: Indian horse chestnut. North-western Himalayas.
• A. chinensis: Chinese horse chestnut. China.
• A. wilsonii: Wilson’s horse chestnut. Central China.

Which of these conkers is best for playing the game? We will be conducting experiments over the coming months and will report the results.

List compiled from Bean (1925) and Forest et al. (2001). Further reading: About horse chestnut, Forest Research.