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<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
- Joined
- May 12, 2001
State Tree
Yellow Buckeye
Aesculus flava (Aesculus octandra)
Description
Tree with rounded crown and upright clusters of showy yellow flowers.
Height: 70-90' (21-27 m).
Diameter: 2-3' (0.6-0.9 m).
Leaves: opposite; palmately compound; with slender leafstalks 3 1/2-7" (9-18 cm) long. 5-7 leaflets 4-8" (10-20 cm) long, 1 1/2-3" (4-7.5 cm) wide; elliptical to obovate; evenly saw-toothed; short-stalked. Dark green and usually hairless above, yellow-green and often hairy beneath.
Bark: brown to gray; thin, fissured into large scaly plates.
Twigs: light brown; stout, often hairy.
Flowers: 1 1/4" (3 cm) long; with 4 very unequal yellow petals and 7-8 shorter stamens; in upright branched terminal clusters 4-6" (10-15 cm) long; in spring.
Fruit: 2-3" (5-7.5 cm) in diameter; a pale brown, smooth or slightly pitted capsule, splitting on 2-3 lines; 1-3 large shiny brown poisonous seeds; maturing in early autumn.
Habitat
Rich, moist, deep soils from river bottoms to deep mountain valleys or slopes; in mixed forests.
Range
Sw. Pennsylvania south to n. Alabama and n. Georgia and north to extreme s. Illinois; at 500-6300' (152-1920 m).
Discussion
The largest of the buckeyes, it is abundant in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Native Americans made a nutritious food from the seeds, after removing the toxic element by roasting and soaking them.
Yellow Buckeye
Aesculus flava (Aesculus octandra)
Description
Tree with rounded crown and upright clusters of showy yellow flowers.
Height: 70-90' (21-27 m).
Diameter: 2-3' (0.6-0.9 m).
Leaves: opposite; palmately compound; with slender leafstalks 3 1/2-7" (9-18 cm) long. 5-7 leaflets 4-8" (10-20 cm) long, 1 1/2-3" (4-7.5 cm) wide; elliptical to obovate; evenly saw-toothed; short-stalked. Dark green and usually hairless above, yellow-green and often hairy beneath.
Bark: brown to gray; thin, fissured into large scaly plates.
Twigs: light brown; stout, often hairy.
Flowers: 1 1/4" (3 cm) long; with 4 very unequal yellow petals and 7-8 shorter stamens; in upright branched terminal clusters 4-6" (10-15 cm) long; in spring.
Fruit: 2-3" (5-7.5 cm) in diameter; a pale brown, smooth or slightly pitted capsule, splitting on 2-3 lines; 1-3 large shiny brown poisonous seeds; maturing in early autumn.
Habitat
Rich, moist, deep soils from river bottoms to deep mountain valleys or slopes; in mixed forests.
Range
Sw. Pennsylvania south to n. Alabama and n. Georgia and north to extreme s. Illinois; at 500-6300' (152-1920 m).
Discussion
The largest of the buckeyes, it is abundant in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Native Americans made a nutritious food from the seeds, after removing the toxic element by roasting and soaking them.