Everything about Aesculus Californica totally explained
Aesculus californica (
California Buckeye or
California Horse-chestnut) is a species of
buckeye endemic to
California, and the only buckeye native to the state.
It is a large
shrub or small
tree growing to 4-12 m tall, with gray bark often coated with
lichens. The
leaves are dark green, palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, each leaflet 6-17 cm long, with a finely toothed margin and (particularly in spring) downy surfaces. The
flowers are sweet-scented, white to pale pink, produced in erect
panicles 15-20 cm long and 5-8 cm broad. The
fruit is a fig-shaped
capsule 5-8 cm long, containing a large (2-5 cm), round, orange
seed; the seeds are
poisonous. The California Buckeye is a plant adapted to a dry climate; it starts dropping its leaves as soon as summer arrives to help it conserve water.
It can be found along the
central coast and the lower elevations of the
Sierra Nevada, up to 1700 m altitude. It grows in oak woodlands and is dominant in some
chaparral habitats. The tree acts as a soil binder, which prevents
erosion in hilly regions. It is sometimes used as an
ornamental.
Local native tribes, including the
Pomo,
Yokut, and
Luiseño, used the poisonous nuts to stupefy schools of fish in small streams to make them easier to catch. The bark, leaves, and fruits contain the
neurotoxic glycoside aesculin, which causes
hemolysis of
red blood cells. Indian groups occasionally used the nuts as a food supply, after boiling and leaching the toxin out of the nut meats for several days, although it wasn't a preferred food. Even the nectar of the flowers is toxic, and it can kill
honeybees and other insects which haven't coevolved with the tree. When the shoots are small and leaves are new they're low in toxins and are grazed by livestock and wildlife.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aesculus Californica'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://aesculus_californica.totallyexplained.com">Aesculus californica Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
