It
is most easily recognized by its palmately compound leaves (with 5-7 leaflets
arranged as fingers on a hand) and clusters of small, pale yellow flowers
that occur at the ends of branches in late April to early May. In native
settings, it is usually found along river banks. It occurs throughout Ohio,
which is near the eastern edge of its range, but it ranges west through
Indiana, Illinois, southeastern Iowa and Missouri to eastern Arkansas, Oklahoma,
and Texas. Today the Buckeye is not widely used by man except occasionally
as a cultivated landscape plant and sometimes for its seeds, which are carried
as good luck charms. In the past, when large Buckeye trees were more plentiful
in the forests, they were considered valuable timber trees. The wood, which
is white, fine-grained, and moderately soft, was widely used for turning
and for making small items of woodenware, such as bowls, spoons, handles,
ornaments and boxes. Because it is easy to carve and resists splitting,
it was once an important material for the manufacture of artificial limbs,
and it was used for flooring, the bodies of wooden vehicles, and for inexpensive
furniture. The bark produces a yellow dye that has been used to tan leather,
and the seeds were used as a source of oil for lamps, an insecticide, and
bookbinder's paste.
Are there other Buckeyes? There are 13 species of buckeye (Aesculus), occurring in temperate North America, Europe, and Asia. Six species are native to the United State. Some are medium-large trees, but others, including the Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) of the southeastern United States, never become bigger than large shrubs. All buckeyes have large palmately compound leaves. In the spring they bear large cone-shaped clusters of flowers, which by midsummer give rise to greenish, leathery and often spiny fruits. When mature, the fruits drop from the trees and split open, revealing the large dark brown seeds ("buckeyes") inside. Probably the most familiar other species of Buckeye is the one that is not even called a Buckeye -- the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). It is also not a true chestnut (chestnuts belong to the genus Castanea in the oak family, Fagaceae). It is often planted as a street tree and is native to Europe.
Why is the Buckeye associated
with Ohio and with OSU? Ohio is known as the "Buckeye State,"
the Ohio Buckeye is the official state tree, and Ohioans in general, but
especially those associated with Ohio State University, are known as "buckeyes."
The origin of this nickname, which dates from early pioneer days, is not
completely known. Ohio may have become known as the Buckeye State simply
because many large, economically important buckeye trees grew in the Ohio
region at that time. Another possibility was proposed by the pioneer historian
S. P. Hildreth of Marietta, 
Ohio,
who told how Col. Ebenezer Sproat, who held the first court of justice
in the Northwest Territory at Marietta in September, 1788, was given the
name "Big Buckeye" by admiring Indians. According to the story,
the nickname became known far and wide and was eventually associated with
all the settlers of the region. Still another theory, and perhaps the
most credible, is that the name caught on in 1840, after Gen. William
Henry Harrison began using the buckeye as a campaign symbol in his presidential
quest. During the campaign, hundreds of buckeye walking sticks and canes
were distributed, and buckeye log cabins built on wagons as floats appeared
in parades in many towns and villages. These, together with an accompanying
song calling Ohio the "Bonnie Buckeye State," firmly established
a link in many people's minds between the state and the tree. The Ohio
Buckeye was popularly accepted as the State's symbol during the late 1800s
and the first half of the twentieth century, but it was not formally adopted
by the Ohio legislature as the State Tree until 1953, on the occasion
of Ohio's 150th anniversary of statehood.