Posted by Wayne Rhodus on April 26, 2006 at 7:01 PM
Yes it's true, I'm a challenged individual when it comes to identifying the numerous trees and plants I've been exposed to while hanging out with you photog types! Here's hoping that Don Kurz (or anyone else) is lurking somewhere on this site and can bail me out once again!
Don, if you don't mind, what is this beautiful spiked flowering tree?
Canon 10D, 100 mm macro, 0.7 sec @ f/11, + 1 eb, ISO 200
curves, selective color, sharpen
Tim Ernst alerted me to your question and he is right, it is Ohio buckeye, Aesculus glabra. They don't seem to get very large this far west in their range, more shrubby looking around here. The better soils and more precipitation eastward makes for magnificant trees!
Kind of strange, but I just now went out for a walk around the loop and found a small stand of buckeyes in bloom - did not know we had them on that part of the mountain. They weren't quite as colorful as Wayne's though, must be the altitude...
By the way, Don's newest wildflower ID book, ILLINOIS WILDFLOWERS, will get some play in the Chicago Tribune tomorrow (Thursday). He is becoming more famous all the time!
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on April 27, 2006 at 10:13 AM
Congratulations Don, your Illinois Wildflower book has helped me on several occassions.
Now I'm going to show my ignorance, the Ohio buckeye you say, so is that where the state got it's name?
When a plant or animal has a state's name in it, that usually means that the observation/collection of the specimen came from that area. Like spring beauty, Claytonia virginica was first observed by some botanist in the State of Virginia.
By the way, beyond carrying a buckeye for good luck, did you know that the word came from the similarity of the nut's appearance to that of a male deer's eye? Some settler saw the black to dark brown nut with the circular tan spot on one side and likened it to the detached eye of a buck. Not particularly a dinner time discussion topic.
Discussion
5 repliesDon, if you don't mind, what is this beautiful spiked flowering tree?
Canon 10D, 100 mm macro, 0.7 sec @ f/11, + 1 eb, ISO 200
curves, selective color, sharpen
Beautiful specimen!
Best, Don
By the way, Don's newest wildflower ID book, ILLINOIS WILDFLOWERS, will get some play in the Chicago Tribune tomorrow (Thursday). He is becoming more famous all the time!
Now I'm going to show my ignorance, the Ohio buckeye you say, so is that where the state got it's name?
When a plant or animal has a state's name in it, that usually means that the observation/collection of the specimen came from that area. Like spring beauty, Claytonia virginica was first observed by some botanist in the State of Virginia.
By the way, beyond carrying a buckeye for good luck, did you know that the word came from the similarity of the nut's appearance to that of a male deer's eye? Some settler saw the black to dark brown nut with the circular tan spot on one side and likened it to the detached eye of a buck. Not particularly a dinner time discussion topic.
Best, Don