My fave #BigTree yesterday, was this large #HorseChestnut #tree on a side road beside Wark Street Commons Community Park in #VictoriaBC in #QuadraVillage.

In Britain & Ireland, their seeds are used for the popular children's game conkers. During WWI there was a campaign asking everyone to collect the seeds & donate to the government. The #conkers were used as a source of #starch for #fermentation using the Clostridium acetobutylicum method devised by Chaim Weizmann to produce #acetone for use as a solvent for the production of #cordite, which was then used in #MilitaryArmaments. Weizmann's process could use any source of starch, but the government chose to ask for conkers to avoid causing starvation by depleting food sources. But conkers were found to be a poor source & the factory only produced acetone for 3 months; however, they were collected again in WWII for the same reason.

#TreeTrivia #nature #Arbor #UrbanTrees #YYJtrees #LekwungenTerritory #YYJ #Treehugger #TreeLovers #MightyTree #VancouverIsland #PacificNorthwest #VanIsle #PNW #UrbanNature