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| OHIO BUCKEYE MAKES A NICE SMALL STREET TREE |
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| ...LARGE, PALMATELY COMPOUND LEAVES... |
...ATTRACTIVE GREENISH YELLOW FLOWERS
Saturday, 10:00 AM. 54 degrees F, wind NNE, calm. The sky is overcast and and we had a thunderstorm last night that left perhaps a half inch of rain in the birdbath. It is a gray, cold day.
As we are all aware, our mild climate next to the big lake allows us to successfully grow some woody plants that would not normally survive this far north. The Ohio buckeye tree, Aesculus glabra, in the Horsechestnut family, is a small to medium sized tree native to the southeastern Midwest. It and a a number of hybrids do well as small ornamental street trees, the one pictured is growing on the north side of Manypenny Ave., between Fourth and Fifth streets. Its greenish-yellow flowers are borne in large racemes that stand upright and are fairly prominent. The large leaves are palmately compound, and the fruit is a pulpy nut with a tough brown skin. The nut is covered by a spiny yellow-brown husk. the nut looks much like a horsechestnut, its close relative.
The buckeye is the state symbol of Ohio, and of course Ohioans and their football team are known as "Buckeyes." The buckeye is not edible, but is considered a good luck charm by many, and having lived and worked in Ohio for some years I carried one in my pocket for a long time. They are great things for little boys to throw, but I suppose that is now illegal and if your son or grandson pegs one at another kid he will go to jail. And the politically correct do-gooders who infest our society should all go straight to hell.
By the way, I think I have gotten out of the dilemma of whether to call the NSA leaker, Snowden, a hero or a villain. He is simply a statistical inevitability. With an estimated 1.4 million persons in and out of government having maximum security clearance, the leak, like a forest fire, was inevitable, and he is about as guilty as an Act of God.
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