Buckeye tree 06-24-09

The Buckeye trees were blooming when I was at Mary's the first weekend in June.
There are about 13 trees and shrubs belonging to the genus Aesculus in the soapberry family. They are all native to North America.

The blossoms look like horse chestnut blossoms because horse chestnuts are also from the soapberry family. As a child I always heard them referred to as chestnut candles and they do grow upright like candles.

The blooms are blunt on the end. An picture of the end makes an interesting image with the stamens sticking out of each small flower the length of the bloom.

The dying flowers aren't found at one end or the other, but are scattered throughout the length of the 'candle'. Buckeyes are the first trees to set leaves in the Spring and the first to drop their leaves in the Fall. After the leaves have fallen the pearshaped buckeye 'fruit' hangs on the tree well into the fall. The nuts are poisonous unless leached and they pose a threat to wildlife and cattle. Squirrels seem to be immune to the poison.