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.