The tree species Aesculus glabra is commonly known as Ohio buckeye, American buckeye, or fetid buckeye. How much do you want to bet that Native Americans got the name from the Resemblance the tree's fruit bears to the buck's eyeball? We'll let you judge for yourselves.
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, with specific association with William Henry Harrison. Capt. Daniel Davis of the Ohio Company of Associates, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, traversed the wilderness in the spring of 1788, and began the settlement of Ohio. Davis was said to be the second man ashore at Point Harmar, 7 April 1788, and he declared later that he cut the first tree felled by a settler west of the Ohio River, a "buckeye" tree. Additionally, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, another founder of that same pioneer city of Marietta, had a tall and commanding presence; he greatly impressed the local Indians, who in admiration dubbed him “Hetuck”, meaning eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye. Subsequently, the word is used as the nickname and colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University's sports teams. The Ohio State University adopted "Buckeyes" officially by the school as its nickname in 1950, and came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university.
It is native primarily to the Midwestern and lower Great Plains regions of the United States, extending southeast into the Nashville Basin. It is also found locally in the extreme southwest of Ontario, on Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair, and in isolated populations in the South. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 50–82 feet tall.
The leaves are palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, 3-6 inches long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 3/4 - 1⅛ inches 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 or oblong spiny capsule 1½ - 2 inches diameter, containing 1-3 nut-like seeds, 3/4 - 1⅛ inches in diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar.
The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous for cattle, and possibly humans. Native Americans would blanch them, extracting the tannic acid for use in leather. Src : Wikipedia
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, with specific association with William Henry Harrison. Capt. Daniel Davis of the Ohio Company of Associates, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, traversed the wilderness in the spring of 1788, and began the settlement of Ohio. Davis was said to be the second man ashore at Point Harmar, 7 April 1788, and he declared later that he cut the first tree felled by a settler west of the Ohio River, a "buckeye" tree. Additionally, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, another founder of that same pioneer city of Marietta, had a tall and commanding presence; he greatly impressed the local Indians, who in admiration dubbed him “Hetuck”, meaning eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye. Subsequently, the word is used as the nickname and colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University's sports teams. The Ohio State University adopted "Buckeyes" officially by the school as its nickname in 1950, and came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university.
It is native primarily to the Midwestern and lower Great Plains regions of the United States, extending southeast into the Nashville Basin. It is also found locally in the extreme southwest of Ontario, on Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair, and in isolated populations in the South. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 50–82 feet tall.
The leaves are palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, 3-6 inches long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 3/4 - 1⅛ inches 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 or oblong spiny capsule 1½ - 2 inches diameter, containing 1-3 nut-like seeds, 3/4 - 1⅛ inches in diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar.
The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous for cattle, and possibly humans. Native Americans would blanch them, extracting the tannic acid for use in leather. Src : Wikipedia
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