Wild Guide: Ohio Buckeye

Ohio buckeye, a popular ornamental, can be a shrub or a medium-sized tree, depending on site conditions, with branches drooping and upcurved ends. It occurs in rich or rocky woods of valleys, ravines, gentle or steep slopes, bases of bluffs, edges of low woods, thickets, and occasionally on edges of limestone glades. Young trees have dark brown, smooth bark while their older counterparts have grayer bark broken into plates, roughened by small, numerous scales. The wood has been used for fuel, paper, artificial limbs, splints, wooden ware, boxes, furniture, veneer, and sometimes for lumber. The buckeye fruits in September to October.