OHIO BUCKEYE 
nut of the Horse-chestnut ; that of the Buckeye is similar. 
When the shell cracks and exposes to view the rich brown 
nut with the pale brown scar, the re- 
semblance to the half-opened eye of 
a deer is not fancied but real. From 
this resemblance came the name 
Buckeye. 
How did it happen that Ohio was 
called the Buckeye State? No direct 
evidence in the matter is forthcoming, 
but circumstantial evidence is not 
wanting. The younger Michaux, 
travelling in this country in 1810, reports in his “Sylva 
of North America’’ that he found the -£sculus glabra prin- 
cipally in Ohio, and that it was especially abundant on the 
banks of the Ohio River between Marietta and Pittsburg. 
For this reason he named the new tree Ohio Buckeye and 
as the Ohio Buckeye it has since been known, though its 
distribution is far wider than Michaux supposed. It was no 
doubt an easy transition from Ohio Buckeye, to Ohio the 
Buckeye State, but who accomplished the deed seems not to 
be known. 
There is a great deal of confusion in the minds of many 
persons with regard to the Buckeye and the Horse-chestnut. 
Both belong to the one genus, but they are nct the same 
tree. The Horse-chestnut is European, the Buckeye na- 
tive. The Horse-chestnut is seven-fingered, the Buckeye five- 
fingered. The Horse-chestnut is the sturdier tree, the leaves 
are larger, rougher, the flowers much more profuse and more 
beautiful than those of the Buckeye. It is a fact well known 
that European plants—herbs or trees—if they flourish in 
America at all are very likely to produce sturdier plants 
than the native representatives of the same genus. We all 
know that our worst and most troublesome weeds are not 
native but introduced. The Norway maple is a sturdier tree 
than our native maples, the white willow is stronger than 
any of our willows, the white and Lombardy poplars flourish 
53 
Buckeye, sculus glabra. Fruit 
1/ to 2/ long. 
