A Bumper Buckeye Crop

There is a single old Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) on the edge of the Long Meadow. I walked by on Tuesday, wondering if there might be any of the big seeds, or buckeyes, still around, or yet to fall. Well, I hit the jackpot. There were many and they had just fallen, so they were plump and gorgeously colored. They’ll darken, fade, and shrivel soon enough, so enjoy them now.

Yellow Buckeyes are native to southern Appalachia. We don’t have to many up here; they don’t even rate on entry in New York City Trees. Much more common are the Common Horsechestnut (A. hippocastanum), a native of Eurasia, and the Red Horsechestnut, a hybrid between the Horsechestnut and the Red Buckeye.

While the seeds — buckeyes, conkers — look very similar, the larger Yellow Buckeyes have fleshy, smooth pods that tend to decay quickly, while Horsechestnut pods are spiky and dry to hard little cases. The buck’s eyes?