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Common Trees 



OHIO BUCKEYE 



Aesculus glabra, Willdenotv 



THIS is the tree that gave Ohio the distinctive name of 

 "Buckeye State." It is also called American Horse 

 Chestnut, Fetid Buckeye and Stinking Buckeye. 



The leaves are opposite, compound, with 5, rarely 7 leaf- 

 lets. The leaflets are egg-shaped, 3 to 6 inches long. If 

 crushed the leaves are 

 ill-smelling. This is 

 one of the first of 

 our trees to put out 

 leaves in spring. 



The flowers are 

 small, yellowish or 

 greenish, with 4 up- 

 right petals. They 

 are arranged in up- 

 right clusters 5 to 6 

 inches high and 2 to 

 3 inches wide. The 

 stamens project be- 

 y o n d the corolla. 

 This is one charac- 

 teristic by which the 

 Ohio Buckeye can be 

 distinguished from 

 the Sweet Buckeye. 



The fruit is a 

 thick, round or pear- 

 shaped prickly or 

 warty capsule, about 

 1 inch in diameter, 

 containing a large, 

 smooth, shiny brown 



nut. It resembles ohio buckeye 



closely the fruit of the Common Horse Chestnut. The bark 

 is grayish, breaks into scaly plates. The twigs are stout, 

 ashy-gray to reddish-brown, ill-smelling if bruised. The 

 buds are opposite, 2/3 of an inch long, sharp-pointed, cov- 

 ered with reddish-brown resinous scales. The wood is soft, 

 weak, whitish to pale yellow. It is used for paper pulp, 

 woodenware, artificial limbs, and occasionally as lumber. 



The Ohio Buckeye ranges from western Pennsylvania, 

 south to Alabama, west through Ohio to Illinois, Iowa and 

 Oklahoma. It is generally distributed throughout Ohio, be- 

 coming less common in the southeastern part. It is usually 

 found in moist flood plains, and locally on dry hills. It is 

 often planted for ornamental purposes. 



