THE OHIO BUCKEYE 



ONE who is not familiar with the characteristics of this celebrated tree will easily 

 infer, after a study of the pictures on the plate, that it is closely related to the 

 more generally known Horse-Chestnut. This relationship is shown in the char- 

 acter of the leaves and blossoms, of the fruit-husk and nut, as well as of the winter-twigs. 

 The leaves differ in having generally but five leaflets, as well as in their outlines. The 

 flowers differ in being much smaller and more crowded on the twigs, and in their pale 

 yellow-green color. The fruit is generally smaller, as are the winter-buds and leaf-scars. 

 The Ohio Buckeye thrives best in the fertile soil of the rich bottomlands of the 

 great central western region of the United States. It extends on the east to Pennsylvania 

 and Alabama, and on the west to Iowa, Kansas, and the Indian Territory, rarely occuring 

 further north than Ohio. It occasionally reaches a height of seventy feet and a trunk 

 diameter of two feet, but generally it is much smaller, commonly having a height of 

 twenty to thirty feet. The wood is soft and light, weighing but twenty-eight pounds per 

 cubic foot, and has occasionally been used for various manufacturing purposes. The nuts 

 of the Buckeye are reputed to be poisonous to various domestic animals, and in consequence 

 the trees have been very generally cut clown in regions where they formerly grew. This 

 partially accounts for the fact that natives of the Buckeye State are often totally unfamiliar 

 with the tree. The name Buckeye is due to the fact that the partially-opened shell gives a 

 glimpse of the brown nut and its paler scar which is very suggestive of the eye of the deer ; 

 and the species was called the Ohio Buckeye by the naturalist Michaux because he found 

 it especially abundant along the banks of the Ohio River. It is supposed that Ohio came 

 to be called the Buckeye State from the name thus applied to the tree. 



This tree is well worthy of being planted occasionally to give variety and interest 

 in landscape gardening. It will endure the climate as far north as Massachusetts. It is 

 sometimes called the Fetid Buckeye, probably on account of the odor of the blossoms. 



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