Aesculus glabra

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Ohio buckeye
Aesculus glabra var. glabra.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Aesculus
Species:
A. glabra
Binomial name
Aesculus glabra
Aesculus glabra range map 1.png
Generalized natural range

Aesculus glabra, commonly known as Ohio buckeye, [2] Texas buckeye, [3] fetid buckeye, [3] and horse chestnut [3] is a species of tree in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) native to North America.

Contents

Its natural range is primarily in the Midwestern and lower Great Plains regions of the United States, extending southeast into the geological Black Belt of Alabama and Mississippi. [4] It is also found locally in the extreme southwest of Ontario, on Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair. [5]

It is found in a variety of natural habitats, including streambanks, upland mesic forests, and along the margins of old fields. [6] It is typically found in calcareous areas. [7]

Description

The leaves are palmately compound with five leaflets 8–16 cm (3–6+12 in) long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, red, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 2–3 cm (341+14 in) long with the stamens longer than the petals (unlike the related yellow buckeye, where the stamens are shorter than the petals). The fruit is a round capsule 4–5 cm (1+12–2 in) diameter, containing one nut-like seed, 2–3 cm (341+14 in) in diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar.

The inedible seeds contain tannic acid and are poisonous to cattle and humans. The young foliage, shoots, and bark are also poisonous to some degree. [8] However, Native Americans reportedly did eat buckeye fruit after boiling it to extract tannin. [9]

Etymology

The name stems from Native Americans, who called the nut "hetuck", which means "buck eye". The markings of the nut resembled the eyes of a deer. [10]

Uses

Aesculus glabra has little use as a timber tree due to its soft, light wood. [8] Although occasionally seen in cultivation, the large, copiously produced fruits make it generally undesirable as a street tree. [2] Extracts from A. glabra have shown anti-cancer properties. [11]

Native American ethnobotany

The Lenape carry the nuts in their pockets for rheumatism, and an infusion of ground nuts is mixed with sweet oil or mutton tallow for earaches. They also grind the nuts and use them to poison fish in streams. [12] [13]

Native Americans blanched buckeye nuts, extracting the tannic acid for use in making leather.[ citation needed ] The nuts can also be dried, turning dark as they harden with exposure to the air, and strung into necklaces similar to those made from the kukui nut in Hawaii. [14]

Culture

A buckeye nut used in an early 20th-century ad, evoking the Seal of Ohio Buckeye Covers emblem.jpg
A buckeye nut used in an early 20th-century ad, evoking the Seal of Ohio

The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and its name is an original term of endearment for the pioneers on the Ohio frontier. Subsequently, "buckeye" came to be used as the nickname and colloquial name for people from Ohio. [15] Ohio State University adopted "Buckeyes" officially as its nickname in 1950, and also uses the name for its sports teams. [16] It came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university. [17]

Buckeye candy, made to resemble the tree's nut, is made by dipping a ball of peanut butter fudge in milk chocolate, leaving a circle of the peanut butter exposed. [18] These are a popular treat in Ohio, especially during the Christmas and college football seasons. [19] [20]

Buckeyes (the nuts) are a recurring motif in Bill Watterson's comic, Calvin and Hobbes , often as one of Calvin's tools of torment. [21] Watterson himself grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland. [22]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapindaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee.

<i>Aesculus pavia</i> Species of tree

Aesculus pavia, known as red buckeye or firecracker plant, is a species of deciduous flowering plant. The small tree or shrub is native to the southern and eastern parts of the United States, found from Illinois to Virginia in the north and from Texas to Florida in the south. It is hardy far to the north of its native range, with successful cultivation poleward to Arboretum Mustila in Finland.

<i>Aesculus</i> Flowering genus in family Sapindaceae

The genus Aesculus, with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species native to North America and seven to 13 species native to Eurasia. Several hybrids occur. Aesculus exhibits a classical Arcto-Tertiary distribution.

<i>Juglans nigra</i> Species of tree

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<i>Corylus maxima</i> Species of tree

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<i>Aesculus hippocastanum</i> Species of tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae

Aesculus hippocastanum, the horse chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the maple, soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large, deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree. It is also called horse-chestnut, European horsechestnut, buckeye, and conker tree. It is not to be confused with the sweet chestnut or Spanish chestnut, Castanea sativa, which is a tree in another family, Fagaceae.

<i>Aesculus flava</i> Species of tree

Aesculus flava, also known commonly as the common buckeye, the sweet buckeye, and the yellow buckeye, is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Hippocastanoideae of the family Sapindaceae. The species is native to the Ohio Valley and Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States. It grows in mesophytic forest or floodplains, generally in acid to circumneutral soil, reaching a height of 20m to 48m.

<i>Carpinus caroliniana</i> Species of tree

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<i>Calla</i> Monotypic genus of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae

Calla is a genus of flowering plant in the family Araceae, containing the single species Calla palustris.

<i>Carya cordiformis</i> Species of tree

Carya cordiformis, the bitternut hickory, also called bitternut, yellowbud hickory, or swamp hickory, is a large hickory species native to the eastern United States and adjacent Canada. Notable for its unique sulphur-yellow buds, it is one of the most widespread hickories and is the northernmost species of pecan hickory. It is the shortest-lived of the hickories, living to about 200 years.

<i>Aesculus californica</i> Species of plant

Aesculus californica, commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon.

<i>Castanea pumila</i> Species of tree

Castanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to the southeastern United States. The native range is from Massachusetts and New York to Maryland and extreme southern New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania south to central Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north to southern Missouri and Kentucky. The plant's habitat is dry sandy and rocky uplands and ridges mixed with oak and hickory to 1000 m elevation. It grows best on well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade.

<i>Castanea mollissima</i> Species of tree

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<i>Pachira glabra</i> Species of plant

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References

  1. Stritch, L. (2018). "Aesculus glabra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T60757589A60757592. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T60757589A60757592.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Aesculus glabra Missouri Botanical Garden
  3. 1 2 3 Aesculus glabra Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center
  4. "Aesculus glabra". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  5. Ohio Buckeye Official website of the Ontario Government
  6. Yatskievych, George (2013). Flora of Missouri, Volume 3. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. p. 1087.
  7. Weakley, Alan (2020). "Flora of the Southeastern United States".
  8. 1 2 Ohio Buckeye, in Silvics Manual Volume 2: Hardwoods USDA Forest Service
  9. Weeks, Sally S. (2010). Native trees of the Midwest : identification, wildlife values, and landscaping use (Rev. and expanded 2nd ed.). West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press. p. 96. ISBN   978-1612490014.
  10. "Why are Ohioans called buckeyes? The term was once an insult".
  11. Suzawa, Rita (December 2022). Evaluation of Cytotoxic Compounds from The Buckeye Tree: Aesculus glabra (Thesis thesis). The Ohio State University. hdl:1811/102444.
  12. Tantaquidgeon, Gladys, 1972, Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians, Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Historical Commission Anthropological Papers #3, page 30
  13. Tantaquidgeon, Gladys, 1942, A Study of Delaware Indian Medicine Practice and Folk Beliefs, Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Historical Commission, page 25, 74
  14. Horton, Marcus (30 November 2019). "Football: Ohio State-Michigan rivalry inspires longstanding devotion". The Lantern. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  15. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2008-04-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Walsh, Christopher (2009). Ohio State Football Football Huddleup, Triumph Books (Random House, Inc.), ISBN   978-1-60078-186-5, p. 120.
  17. "The Ohio State University Alumni Association" . Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  18. "Buckeyes". Food Network. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  19. Campanelli, John (22 November 2010). "PDQ's guide to the buckeye, just in time for the OSU-Michigan game". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  20. "The 10 Best Places For Chocolate Buckeye Lovers Around Ohio". Columbus Navigator. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  21. "Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for October 31, 1988". GoComics. 31 October 1988. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  22. "Bill Watterson". Biography . October 10, 2023. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2024.

Further reading