Yellow Buckeye
Aesculus flava
Family Hippocastanaceae

Characteristics:
* Leaves compound, arranged in a fan shape, with 5 leaflets, 4-6".
* Bark gray-brown, with large, flat, smooth plates and scales.
* Flowers yellow, in umbrella-shaped clusters.
* Fruit a smooth, pear-shaped pod, 2", containing a buckeye, a smooth dark elliptical to round seed, 1-1 1/2".
* Height: 60-75'.

Natural History:
* Flowers in May.
* Habitat: Moist woods, well-drained soil.
* Range: Naturalized in thae area from Pennsylvania south and west to Tennessee and Georgia, elsewhere where planted.
* Introduced from Europe.

Connections!
* The Yellow Buckeye was introduced in 1764. Superstitious people used to carry the shiny, smooth buckeyes in their pockets to ward off rheumatism.

* Buckeye wood is light both in weight and color. It was formerly used for artificial limbs. The nuts are not edible to humans but are used by squirrels and other wildlife.