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Buckeye

(This article is about the plants called buckeyes. There is also a place called Buckeye, Arizona in the United States of America. A buckeye is also a breed of chicken, see buckeye (chicken))

 


Aesculus hippocastanum

Buckeyes and Horsechestnuts
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Hippocastanaceae
Genus: Aesculus
Species
   Aesculus arguta: Texas buckeye
   Aesculus buckleyi
   Aesculus californica: California buckeye
   Aesculus chinensis: Chinese buckeye
   Aesculus flava (aka A. lutea or octandra):
      yellow buckeye
   Aesculus glabra: Ohio buckeye
   Aesculus hippocastanum: horsechestnut
   Aesculus indicum: Indian horsechestnut
   Aesculus neglecta: dwarf buckeye
   Aesculus parviflora: bottlebrush buckeye
   Aesculus pavia: red buckeye
   Aesculus sylvatica: painted buckeye
   Aesculus turbinata: Japanese horsechestnut
Buckeye is the name given to trees and shrubs of the genus Aesculus. These woody plants have opposite, palmately divided leaves. The most familiar member of the genus worldwide is the horsechestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, formerly put in its own genus, Hippocastanum but now usually included in Aesculus.

Buckeyes are poisonous, but some native American tribes leached the pulverized nuts to make them edible.

Several members of the genus are used as ornamentals. The horsechestnut, red buckeye, bottlebrush buckeye, and painted buckeye are all planted for their showy flowers. Several showy horticultural hybrids have been developed.

The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio.