LARGE seed pods What tree?

[zelph]

Found these today about 15 feet off the ground attached to tree limb. (long arms)

Tree trunk at base is approximately 8" Tree is about30 feet tall. Growing along the Tombigbee Waterway in Mississippi. Most of the leaves have fallen off tree.

Please identify if you can. Thank you. :-) Which "buckeye"?

BUCKEYE 001.JPG

[The Cleaner]

From "The Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Trees" it looks like a Buckeye nut.There are two varieties, a red and a yellow.Probably a Yellow Buckeye as the Red one grows mostly south of the Southern Appalachian mountains.These trees grow very large in the Smokies.The seeds are edible after roasting and soaking.

[swisscross]

Buckeye...worthless nut!

[zelph]

Whoooo, that was fast :-) It's the "red buckeye" The Audubon site was truly helpful.

Thank you!!! :-)

[zelph]

Buckeye...worthless nut!

No way!!!! the Native Americans carried them for good luck. The first day I found a nut, I found a quarter :-)

[Malto]

Buckeye were lucky until last Saturday.

[rocketsocks]

Wow, so money does grow on trees...nice find!

[Dogwood]

I think it's not the red but the yellow buckeye Aesculus flava based on the smooth outer husk. The red buckeye A. pavia has a spiky husk. If you have chance to see the tree/large shrub in flower you'll know immediately according to the yellow or red flower. The nuts certainly were useful as Native Americans were wise about. Strange how often what white people sometimes quickly deem as weeds or invasive plants have multiple uses. The nuts certainly were edible after roasting and soaking to remove the saponins which are poisonous to humans. Because the toxicity of the saponins were greater to fish the raw nuts were crushed and thrown in the water used to stun and catch fish by Native Americans. The saponins were used to make soap as well. Jewelry is still made from the hard nuts.

[rocketsocks]

I think it's not the red but the yellow buckeye Aesculus flava based on the smooth outer husk. The red buckeye A. pavia has a spiky husk. If you have chance to see the tree/large shrub in flower you'll know immediately according to the yellow or red flower. The nuts certainly were useful as Native Americans were wise about. Strange how often what white people sometimes quickly deem as weeds or invasive plants have multiple uses. The nuts certainly were edible after roasting and soaking to remove the saponins which are poisonous to humans. Because the toxicity of the saponins were greater to fish the raw nuts were crushed and thrown in the water used to stun and catch fish by Native Americans. The saponins were used to make soap as well. Jewelry is still made from the hard nuts.

although a rlly didn't find these on the trail, these are the anthropological story's I appreciate (nutritional or otherwise) and are the jewels of the trail, not wether joe blow has thru-hiked 9 times, or the AYCE joint down the road has a two-fer. Bravo!

[zelph]

Here is some google info:

Description
Red buckeye is usually a single stemmed, rather open small tree only 8-10 ft (2.4-3 m) tall, although they have been known (rarely) to reach over 30 ft (9 m) in height. The attractive leaves, 5-10 in (12.7-25.4 cm) across, are palmately compound with five (occasionally seven) serrated leaflets radiating from the ends of 4-6 in (10-12.7 cm) petioles (leaf stems). They are velvety purple-green at first unfolding. The showy red flowers are arranged in 4-10 in (10-25.4 cm) terminal spikes (called racemes) and appear along with the leaves in early spring. The fruit is a smooth, thin-walled capsule, 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) in diameter containing 1-3 poisonous seeds that look very much like chestnuts. There are two varieties recognized: The typical variety, Aesculus pavia var. pavia, has tubular flowers about 1.5 in (3.8 cm) long with the stamens extending a little beyond the tube; they are pollinated by ruby-throated hummingbirds. Aesculus pavia var. flavescens has yellow flowers, not quite as elongate, and the stamens do not extend beyond the tube; they are pollinated by bumblebees.

[pickNgrin]

From "The Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Trees" it looks like a Buckeye nut.There are two varieties, a red and a yellow.Probably a Yellow Buckeye as the Red one grows mostly south of the Southern Appalachian mountains.These trees grow very large in the Smokies.The seeds are edible after roasting and soaking.

Hmmm. I always heard that the buckeye was poisonous. I guess it is when raw, but is ok if roasted. Personally I would skip it and stick to this kind:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f.../buckeyes.html

[Dogwood]

how many husks did you look at and how many seeds were in each husks? if it was always three seeds in a husk than it was likely a A. pavia strain with a smooth husk. A. flava has 1 or 2 seeds per husk, as far as i know never 3 seeds. there is some taxonomic confusion in the literature. taxonomic identification is like diagnosing a disease with the greater the info available the easier it is to narrow down identification or the disease. taxonomists will occasionally reclassify plants with several possibly conflicting names occurring in the literature at once. I'm not sure which Aesculus species will cross breed among species but i know that occurs as well possibly leading to strains having characteristics of both or several species.

[zelph]

The 2 mature pods I have contain 3 seeds per pod. Husk is smooth. I suspect the only sure way to know is wait till spring and observe the color of the blossoms.

CORRECTION: pods contain 4 seeds each. Husk has 3 lobes.

[OldGringo]

I think they are cool looking....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dogwood]

Took me sorting through several on line plant identification sources and 5 of my own voluminous tree identification books to note A. flava usually has 1or 2 nuts but absolutely can have three nuts per husk. Additionally A. flava does cross with A. pavia producing hybrids. To go one step further although you might not want to hear it there is a A. pavia variety flavescens - a red buckeye with yellow flowers. I don't think this is what you saw though in the wild. I'll stand by my original assessment upon the limited description - A. flava or a hybrid that includes A. flava lineage.

I concur with Michael A. Dirr, professor of Horticulture at UGA that A. pavia is the most beautiful of the large growing tree Aesculus although I've planted large specimen Aesculus x cornea "Briotti" red horse chestnut that when in full flower rivals it for beauty. I caught this jaw dropping gorgeous yellow buckeye in glorious bloom at Morton Arboretum. http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plant...yellow-buckeye

Another Aesculus I've enjoyed in the southeast on the AT, BMT, etc is the Bottlebrush Buckeye, A. parviflora, a 12ft or so large shrub growing Aesculus that when in flower or in it's golden fall array stops me in my tracks everytime.

[Dogwood]

Just as this pic jumps off the page so it is upon viewing in flower in real life.

[zelph]

Nice photo of the bottlebrush. I suspect the tiny flowers attract small insects which attract hummingbirds.

[zelph]

Hmmm. I always heard that the buckeye was poisonous. I guess it is when raw, but is ok if roasted. Personally I would skip it and stick to this kind:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f.../buckeyes.html

The peanut butter buckeye would become habit forming and dangerous to my health :-)))

[rocketsocks]

"Pedaling Fool" always had some nice flower pictures...where you at boy!

[zelph]

I'm going to see if I can germinate the seeds and then transfer to a 2-3 gallon nursery pot to grow them. They say fresh seed will germinate. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :-)