A schoolgirl is hoping she’s smashed a world record after she found a horse chestnut husk containing five conkers.
Evie Jacobs, eight, was amazed when she stumbled upon the corking conker with grandad Henry Jacobs, 71.
The pair visited Bush Hill Park in Enfield, north London, on their hunt for multi-conker husks after Evie learnt about them at school.
Henry said: “There were quite a few horse chestnut trees in the park – about 11 or 12 – but I can’t tell you how many conkers were down there.
“It was Evie’s idea to have a look at them, she had studied conkers at school and she wanted to find one with three conkers in it.
“We looked at loads of them and most of them had fallen and split from their husks, so you don’t get these fused ones.
“I’d never seen one like this before, I thought I was seeing things because it was so massive.
“Evie is very excited about it and the Natural History Museum were very enthusiastic too, it’s such an anomaly.”
The pair contacted expert botanist Dr Fred Rumsey, senior curator in charge of historical collections at the Natural History Museum, who said the most conkers he’d seen in one husk was three.
He added: “There must be developmental abnormality here, perhaps the fusing of two flowers?”
Florin Feneru, the museum’s identification officer, confirmed the find is a rarity.
Proud Evie said: “It is really rare to find one like this, I hadn’t seen one like it before.
“My teacher was amazed by it and then my grandpa said we should try and get the world record.”
Evie is now applying for her giant specimen to be judged by the Guinness Book of Records.
