OHIO
Buckeye State

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    The State Tree - Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra

  • Size: small tree of central states, chiefly of Ohio and Mississippi Valley regions, 30'-50' in height, 2'-3' in diameter
  • Growth: grows best in deep fertile soils, will usually reach maturity in 60-80 years
  • Leaves: palmately compound with five nearly elliptical, serrate leaflets 4" - 6" long
  • Buds: large terminal bud (no resinous)
  • Branching: stout limbs in opposite positioning
  • Bark: grey, scaly plates
  • Flowers: showy, pale white to greenish yellow, branched clusters 4" -6" long
  • Fruit (nut): 1" -2" seed capsule, somewhat spiny with 1-5 non-edible seeds (nuts) inside
  • Other information: also known a fetid buckeye, stinking buckeye. It is one of the first trees to leaf out in the spring and drops its leaves early in the fall. Fall leaf coloration is orange to red
  • Uses: today mostly pulp; in the past - furniture, crates, pallets, caskets, artificial human limbs
  • Folklore: nut is considered a good luck charm, relieves pain of arthritis and rheumatism, resembles the eye of the buck deer
  • State Champion Big Tree: circumference - 162"; height 82' crown spread - 67'; location - North Bend, Hamilton County

 


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