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Ohio buckeye

Aesculus glabra

Summary 4

The tree species Aesculus glabra is commonly known as Ohio buckeye, American buckeye, or fetid buckeye. A. glabra is one of 13–19 species of Aesculus also called horse chestnuts.

Description 5

The leaves are palmately compound with five 8–16 cm (3.1–6.3 in) long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, red, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long with the stamens longer than the petals (unlike the related yellow buckeye, where the stamens are shorter than the petals). The fruit is a round capsule 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) diameter, containing one nut-like seed, 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) in diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar.

The inedible seeds contain tannic acid and are poisonous to both cattle and humans. The young foliage, shoots, and bark are also poisonous to some degree.

Foliage and fruit

Inflorescence

Dried buckeye nuts

Closeup of trunk

Uses 5

Aesculus glabra has little use as a timber tree due to its soft, light wood. Although occasionally seen in cultivation, the large copiously produced fruits make it generally undesirable as a street tree.

The Lenape carry the nuts in the pocket for rheumatism, and an infusion of ground nuts mixed with sweet oil or mutton tallow for earaches. They also grind the nuts and use them to poison fish in streams.

Native Americans blanched buckeye nuts, extracting the tannic acid for use in making leather.[citation needed] The nuts can also be dried, turning dark as they harden with exposure to the air, and strung into necklaces similar to those made from the kukui nut in Hawaii.

Culture 5

The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and its name is an original term of endearment for the pioneers on the Ohio frontier. Subsequently, "buckeye" came to be used as the nickname and colloquial name for people from Ohio. Ohio State University adopted "Buckeyes" officially as its nickname in 1950, and also uses the name for its sports teams. It came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university.

Buckeye candy, made to resemble the tree's nut, is made by dipping a ball of peanut butter fudge in milk chocolate, leaving a circle of the peanut butter exposed. These are a popular treat in Ohio, especially during the Christmas and college football seasons.

Buckeyes (the nuts) are a recurring theme in Bill Watterson's comic, Calvin and Hobbes, often as one of Calvin's tools of torment. Watterson himself grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) sweetdrake, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  2. (c) Christian Grenier, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Christian Grenier
  3. (c) Alex Abair, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alex Abair
  4. Adapted by Murfreesboro,TN, Natural Resource Division from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_glabra
  5. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_glabra

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