SAPINDACEAE 



Ohio Buckeye 



Aesculus glabra, Willd. 



>HABIT. A medium-sized tree 30-50 feet in height, with a 

 trunk not over 2 feet in diameter ; usually much smaller ; slender, 

 spreading branches, forming a broad, rounded crown; twigs 

 thick. 



LEAVES. Opposite, digitately compound. Leaflets usually 

 5, rarely 7, 3-6 inches long, 1^2-2^ inches broad; ovate or oval, 

 gradually narrowed to the entire base; irregularly and finely 

 serrate; glabrous, yellow-green above, paler beneath, turning 

 yellow in autumn. Petioles 4-6 inches long, slender, enlarged at 

 the base. Foliage ill-smelling when bruised. 



FLOWERS. April-May, after the leaves; polygamo-monoe- 

 cious; small, yellow-green, in terminal panicles 5-6 inches long 

 and 2-3 inches broad, more or less downy ; pedicels 4-6-flowered ; 

 calyx campanulate, 5-lobed; petals 4, pale yellow, hairy, clawed; 

 stamens 7, with long, hairy filaments. 



FRUIT. October; a thick, leathery, prickly capsule, about I 

 inch in diameter, containing a single large, 'smooth, lustrous, 

 brown nut. A large pale scar gives the name "Buckeye." 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal buds Yz inch long, acute, 

 resinous, brownish; inner scales yellow-green, becoming i l / 2 -2 

 inches long in spring and remaining until the leaves are nearly 

 half grown. 



BARK. Twigs smooth, red-brown, becoming ashy gray; 

 old trunks densely furrowed and broken into thick plates; ill- 

 smelling when bruised. 



WOOD. Light, soft, close-grained^ weak, whitish, with thin, 

 light brown sapwood. 



NOTES. A native of the Mississippi River Valley. Oc- 

 casionally planted in southern Michigan for ornamental purposes, 

 but is less popular than the Horse-chestnut. 

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