Ohio Buckeye Tree

Facts about Ohio Buckeye Tree, "Scientific name for Ohio Buckeye Tree is Aesculus glabra". Ohio buckeye is a tree that belongs to the genus Aesculus of the Sapindaceae family. The Ohio Buckeye Trees are native to the Midwestern regions and lower Great Plains areas of the United States, widening to the southeastern regions into the Nashville Basin. The Ohio Buckeye Tree can also be seen locally in the southwest end of Ontario, on the Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair, and in remote populations in the South. The Ohio buckeye tree is the official state tree of the Ohio State in United States.

Name origin for Ohio Buckeye Tree

The name, Ohio Buckeye, of the tree is an original word of kind word for the pioneers on the border of the Ohio State, with specific relationship with William Henry Harrison, the 9th president of the United States, Capt. Daniel Davis, of a land company, the Ohio Company of Associates, under a regal officer of armed forces during the Indian and French War, Gen. Rufus Putnam. They traversed the wilds during the spring season of 1788, and formed the colony of Ohio. Daniel Davis was considered to be the second man on shore on the 7th of April 1788 at Point Harmar. Later, Davis declared that he sliced the first tree felled by a colonist on the western bank of the Ohio River, called a "buckeye" tree.

Furthermore, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, an additional founder of Marietta, the same pioneer city, had a high and powerful presence. Ebenezer very much impressed the Ohio Indians, who in respect called himself as "Hetuck", which means the eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye.

Later, "buckeye" became the colloquial name and nickname for inhabitants of the Ohio State and the name of the sports teams of the Ohio State University. The University followed the name "Buckeyes" legitimately as its nickname during 1950, and the name came to be used to denote any graduate or student of the Ohio State University.

Features of Ohio Buckeye Tree

The Ohio buckeye is an averaged-sized deciduous tree, which is capable of growing to a height, ranging from 49 feet to 82 feet (15 meters to 25 meters). The leaves of the tree are palmate and mix with five or, occasionally, seven broad leaflets, with the length that ranges from 3.1 inches to 6.3 inches (8 cm to 16 cm).

The Ohio buckeye tree offers flowers during the spring season, and they are produced in panicles. The color of the flowers of the tree varies from yellow to yellow-green, such that the length of each flower ranges from 0.79 inches to 1.18 inches (2 cm to 3 cm), with the more elongated stamens than the length of their petals.

The fruit of the Ohio buckeye tree is an oblong or round spiny capsule, with the diameter, ranging from 1 7/16 inches to 2 inches (4 cm to 5 cm), comprising one to three seeds, which are in the shape of a nut. The diameter of each seed ranges from 3/4 inches to 1 1/8 inches (2 cm to 3 cm). These seeds appear brown in color with a white colored basal mark. The fruits of the Ohio Buckeye Tree include tannic acid, and they are toxic to humans and cattle, as is the foliage.

Uses of Ohio Buckeye Tree

The nuts of the Ohio buckeye tree are bleached by the Native Americans to extract the tannic acid for use in the manufacture of leather. The nuts can be dried, as well, to turn it dark because they get hardened by contact with the air, and formed into necklaces like the necklaces, prepared from the flowering tree in Hawaii, the Kukui tree.

Buckeye chocolate, prepared to look like the nut of the Ohio buckeye tree, is prepared through immersing a fudge of a peanut butter ball in milk chocolate, leaving a loop of the peanut butter uncovered. These are an admired treat in Ohio, particularly during the college football seasons and Christmas.

The lifespan of the Ohio buckeye tree is 50 years.