SWEET BUCKEYE
Aesculus octandra, Marsh.
Form.—Height 50-80 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk usually short; crown conical or round-topped.
Leaves.—Opposite, digitately compound, leaflets 5-7, oval, 4-10 inches long, long-pointed, finely toothed, smooth and dark green above, somewhat hairy and yellowish-green beneath.
Flowers.—April-May; polygamo-monoecious or perfect, borne in terminal panicles 4-12 inches long; corolla yellow, with included stamens.
Fruit.—October; a large smooth irregularly rounded or pear-shaped pod or capsule, 1-2 inches thick, 3-celled but usually bearing only one large irregularly rounded, glossy, brown nut, which is somewhat poisonous.
Bark.—Evenly furrowed, the gray-brown ridges breaking up into irregular scales.
Wood.—Light, soft, yellowish, or nearly white.