You are bidding on 5 JEAN O'NEILLS RED HORSE CHESTNUT NUTS - Aesculus x carnea 'O'Neills Red' .
See all my other buckeye and horse chestnuts listed .
Fast growing. This features bold spikes of long , dense clusters of single cherry red flowers rising above the foliage in mid spring favored by hummingbirds .
This is a low-branched, small to medium sized deciduous tree that typically grows 20-40’ tall with a broad oval-rounded crown.
Light green palmate compound leaves emerge in spring, each with five spreading ovate-oblong leaflets to 3-6” long. Leaves mature to dark green in summer. Fall color is usually yellow, although foliage may develop interesting and attractive shades of orange and red in some years.
Flowers are followed by the familiar fruit, which is a globular dehiscent capsule consisting of 1-2 buckeyes encased by a leathery light brown partitioned husk with spikes .
Native Americans reportedly called the fruit of this tree “hetuck” meaning eye-of-the-buck in reference to the supposed resemblance of the shiny dark mahogany brown fruit to the eye of a buck deer. The common name of buckeye evolved therefrom .
Height: 40 feet
Spread: 40 feet
Hardiness Zone: 4a = Hardy to -20°F
Maximum Elevation: 6,500 ft.
Medicinal use : Minute doses of the seed are used internally in the treatment of spasmodic coughs, asthma and internal irritations. It is used externally as a tea or an ointment in the treatment of rheumatism and piles. An extract of the bark has been used as an irritant of the cerebro-spinal system.
Edible parts : Seed - cooked. It can be dried, ground into a flour and used as a gruel. The seed is quite large, up to 35 mm in diameter, and is easily harvested. It is quite rich in saponins and needs to be leached of these toxins before it becomes safe to eat
Other uses of : Saponins contained in the seed are used a soap substitute. The saponins can be easily obtained by chopping the seed into small pieces and infusing them in hot water. This water can then be used for washing the body, clothes etc. Its main drawback is a lingering odor of horse chestnuts. Plants can be used as a tall ground cover for large areas of land. They are slow to establish but eventually form large spreading clumps.
Wood - close-grained, light, soft, white, but often blemished by dark lines of decay. It weighs 28 lb per cubic foot. It is easy to carve and resists splitting. Ideal to use in making artificial limbs, it is also used for wooden ware, pulp etc and is occasionally sawn into lumber .