Horse chestnut

Horse chestnut – Aesculus hippocastanum

Horse chestnut is known to treat the venous system in general. The extract is used to treat varicose veins on the legs, and open wounds of ruptured veins. It contains vitamin P, which is responsible for the great resistance of capillaries and reduces their permeability. All parts of the stem, as well as the fruit, contain saponins that thin the blood and make it less sticky, and that cure skin diseases. The extract is most suitable as a medicine, but tea made from buds and flowers, or a flower tincture, is also consumed, e.g. against gout, neuralgia, and rheumatism. Tea made from brown bark and young bark cures hemorrhoids, inflammation of and varicose veins, an enlarged prostate, especially varicocele and leg varicose veins, and soothes the pain that arises from them. Horse chestnut grows as an ornamental tree, 4-6 m wide, with a dense crown, 20-30 m tall, in parks and alleys, and groves, and sometimes found along roads and paths. Flowers and buds are picked in April and May, fruits in September and October, and bark in the late winter and spring.