662 



The Buckeyes 



6. SWEET BUCKEYE -ffisculus octandra Marshall 



/Esnilits fava Aiton 



This tree, known also as Yellow buckeye and Big buckeye, is the largest Amer- 

 ican species of the genus, occasionally attaining a height of 35 meters, with a trunk 

 a meter in diameter; it is usually smaller, however, commonly not exceeding 20 

 meters in height, and is reported to flower as a shrub in western Texas. It grows 



in rich soil, preferring valleys, and ranges from 

 western Pennsylvania to Illinois, Iowa, and the 

 Indian Territor)^ south to Georgia, Louisiana 

 and Texas, blooming, according to locality, from 

 March to June. 



The thick bark is brown, fissured and scaly. 

 The young shoots are finely hair)', becoming 

 smooth and brown, the buds bluntish, not resi- 

 nous, the terminal ones 2 to 2.5 cm. long, their 

 ovate scales covered with a thin bluish bloom. 

 The leaves are more or less hairy when young; 

 they have 5 or 7 short-stalked or stalkless leaflets, 

 the slender leaf-stalk i to 1.5 dm. long, finely 

 hairy or smooth; the leaflets vary from oval or 

 elliptic to obovate, and from i to 2.5 dm. long; 

 they are finely toothed, long-pointed, narrowed 

 at the base, with the lower pair oblique, dark 

 green and smooth on the upper surface when 

 mature, yellowish green and somewhat hairy on the under side, at least along the 

 veins. The flower-clusters are i to 3 dm. long and finely hairy; the calyx is nar- 

 rowly bell-shaped, i to 1.5 cm. long, its lobes blunt; the petals are yellow or pur- 

 plish, 2 to 3 cm. long, those of the upper pair with oval blades nearly as long as 

 the hairy claw, the lateral pair with shorter blades and much longer claws; the 

 stamens are not longer than the petals, their filaments hairy. The fruit is obo- 

 void, 4 to 6 cm. thick, smooth, its valves thin; there are several seeds, 2 to 3.5 

 cm. broad. 



The wood is white and soft, with a specific gravity of about 0.43, and is used 

 for artificial limbs, woodenware, and paper pulp. The tree grows rapidly and is 

 desirable for lawn and park planting. 



Fig. 615. Sweet Buckeye. 



