Taxonomy
Family: Hippocastanaceae
Habitat
Wet mesic woods.
Associates
Distribution
Much of the central and eastern US. Absent from many of the mid-Atlantic states and VT, CT, MA, and RI in New England.
Morphology
Small tree, to 15 m, with a wide-spreading, rounded form. Leaves opposite, palmately 5(-7) foliate, on long petioles; leaflets mostly less than 12 cm long; bright green, turfs of hair in the vein axils below. Flowers greenish-yellow, in terminal panicles, calyx connate and 5-lobed. Fruit a spiny capsule often containing a single, large, shiny seed with a conspicuous light spot.
Notes
Flowers April to May
Wetland indicator: Facultative Upland
This species differs from other native buckeyes in that the stamens are well exserted from the corolla and the fruits have a spiny outer covering. Leaves emerge early in the spring. The buckeyes get their name for the light spot on the dark, shiny seed that gives in the appearance of a buck's eye.
References
Dirr, Michael A.
1998. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental
Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses.
5th ed. Champaign, Illiois: Stipes Publishing L.L.C.
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G.
Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
USDA, NRCS. 2002.
The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA
© Michael Hough 2004 |