MORE ON NUTS: OHIO BUCKEYE

OHIO BUCKEYE FLOWER (Google file photo)

OHIO BUCKEYE PALMATELY COMPOUND LEAF

OHIO BUCKEYE ON N SIDE OF  MANYPENNY AVE., BETWEEN  FOURTH AND FITTH STREETS

BUCKEYE FRUIT; A PRICKLY HUSK...

...COVERS THE BUCKEYE NUT

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 43 degrees F at the ferry dock, 36 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm with light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 83%.  The barometer is rising, now stranding at 30.22", predicting a nice weekend following rainy weather tomorrow.

   We have a few Ohio buckeye trees, Aesculus glabra, in the Buckeye Family (the Hippocastanaceae) as street trees in Bayfield, and they so far have proven hardy here.  They make nice small street trees, although some people would object to the nuts, which in past times were fine objects for little boys to throw.  The "buckeye" is the state tree of Ohio, and many Ohioans carry a buckeye nut in their pocket for good luck.  As a former resident of Ohio, I certainly do.  It is said to have the power to cure rheumatism if so carried.  I won't be drawn into that debate.

   The buckeye blooms nicely in the spring, an upright, compound, creamy white blossom.  The leaves are palmately compound, with typically five leaflets. The horse chestnut, Aesclus hippocastaneum, a much larger tree, is in the same family and has a quite similar leaf and nut (the latter without the distinctive "eye").

   For more on the Ohio buckeye and other buckeyes, use the blog search engine to find earlier posts.