Common Name: Ohio buckeye
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Sapindaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 4.00 to 6.00 feet
Spread: 4.00 to 6.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: Greenish-yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Rain Garden
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Leaf: Fragrant, Good Fall
Attracts: Butterflies
Fruit: Showy
Tolerate: Rabbit
Noteworthy Characteristics
Aesculus glabra, commonly called Ohio buckeye, is native from western Pennsylvania to Iowa south to Alabama and Arkansas. It is found throughout the State of Missouri where it typically occurs in rich or rocky wooded areas of valleys, ravines, bluff bases, slopes and thickets (Steyermark). This is a low-branched, small to medium sized deciduous tree that typically grows 20-40’ (less frequently to 75’) tall with a broad oval-rounded crown. Bright green palmate compound leaves emerge in spring, each with five spreading ovate-oblong leaflets to 3-6” long. Leaves mature to dark green in summer. Fall color is usually yellow, although foliage may develop interesting and attractive shades of orange and red in some years. Greenish-yellow flowers (to 1” long) appear in clusters in mid-spring (late April-May in St. Louis). Flowers are followed by the familiar fruit, which is a globular dehiscent capsule consisting of 1-2 buckeyes encased by a leathery light brown partitioned husk covered with warty spines. Fruit on the tree is interesting but not particularly ornamental. When ripe, each buckeye turns a handsome shiny dark mahogany brown with a light tan eye. Since colonial times, buckeyes have been carried by many school children and adults as good luck charms. Ohio is known as the Buckeye State and has adopted the buckeye as its State Tree. All parts of this tree, particularly the flowers, bark and twigs, emit an unpleasant odor when bruised, hence the sometimes common name of fetid buckeye.
Genus name is the Latin name for a kind of oak bearing edible acorns but applied by Linnaeus to this genus.
Specific epithet means smooth without hairs in probably reference to the smooth leaves.
Native Americans reportedly called the fruit of this tree “hetuck” meaning eye-of-the-buck in reference to the supposed resemblance of the shiny dark mahogany brown fruit to the eye of a buck deer. The common name of buckeye evolved therefrom.
'Nana' is a rare dwarf form of the Ohio Buckeye found in a few locations in northern Alabama and northern Georgia. It is a small rounded shrub that grows 4 to 6 ft. tall and wide. It has the typical palmately compound leaves and in spring, upright clusters of greenish yellow flowers followed by spiny fruits. Its foliage turns yellow to red-brown, usually pumpkin orange, and defoliates early in fall.
Problems
Leaf blotch can be a significant problem. Powdery mildew and anthracnose are also frequent problems. Watch for bagworms, Japanese beetles and borers. Leaf scorch (brown edges) may occur in droughty conditions or on sites exposed to wind.
Uses
Interesting dwarf plant for the landscape where leaf blotch is not a significant problem.