6 December 2023
The Nutty Collection: Buckeyes are the Aesculus genus
Buckeyes have at all times been considered one of my favourite items as a result of their pores and skin is clean and glossy recent out of the husk, best possible to hold in my pocket like a concern stone.
In The united states, the local Aesculus are usually
known as “buckeyes,” a reputation derived from the
resemblance of the glossy seed to the attention of a
deer [a buck’s eye]. Within the Previous International, they’re known as “horse
chestnuts”—a reputation that arose from the conclusion
that the bushes had been intently associated with safe to eat
chestnuts (Castanea species), and as the
seeds had been fed to horses as a medicinal remedy for chest proceedings and computer virus illnesses.— Arboretum FOundation (in Seattle): The Many Faces of Aesculus
In Pittsburgh we name they all “buckeyes.”
Let’s move backwards within the rising season from nut to husk, flower and leaf via analyzing buckeyes planted in Schenley Park greater than 100 years in the past.
The huge nut pictured at most sensible left is from a Eu horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) local to Albania, Bulgaria, mainland Greece and North Macedonia. Every husk incorporates one to 3 nuts. On occasion they’re flat on one aspect. My favorites are the spherical ones.
At the tree, horse chestnut husks are spiny.
They’re created from the white plants that experience red (already fertilized) highlights. Realize that each and every leaf has seven fats leaflets. The quantity and form of the leaflets point out it is a horsechestnut.
In iciness horse chestnuts are simple to spot via their huge, sticky finish buds.
The yellow buckeye (Aesculus flava) is local to the Appalachians and Ohio Valley and is North The united states’s tallest buckeye tree at 70 toes. Planted as a decorative in Schenley Park it will possibly hybridize with its shorter cousin, the Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), making identity tough for non-botanists like me.
Yellow and Ohio buckeye nuts glance so much like horse chestnuts. Seeing the husk is a huge assist as a result of yellow buckeye husks are clean …
… whilst Ohio buckeye husks are reasonably spiny. The slender leaves additionally point out a local buckeye. (Sure, the leaves regarded in poor health that 12 months.)
Their plants are faded yellow (no longer white) and narrower than the pony chestnut’s.
Yellow buckeye buds are huge however no longer sticky. They’re one of the vital first to leaf out within the spring.
Ohio buckeye buds are strongly keeled.
For a abstract of 9 not unusual buckeyes (Aesculus) utilized in landscaping see The Spruce: What’s a Buckeye?
p.s. The small buckeye nut within the most sensible photograph is from the shrub-sized bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), planted in Schenley Park close to Panther Hole Lake. Click on right here to be informed extra.