Bursts into leaf in a couple of hours

The sun at the weekend has brought the chestnut trees in the garden into leaf. The buds are covered by a sticky gum which protects them from frost. When the sun melts this resin the tree bursts into leaf in a couple of hours. Later in the Spring the tree will produce scented white flowers in dense clusters of upright plumes. In the Autumn the tree produces smooth brown nuts known as “conkers”. The trees are not native to England and were first introduced in the sixteenth century. They now cover the country. The bark can be made into a mild narcotic by stripping it from the tree, drying it in sunlight, grinding it to powder and mixing with hot water (I have never tried this). The conkers can be dried and ground up as feed for horses and cattle (pigs will not eat them).