Plant · P-1020

Texas Buckeye

Aesculus glabra var arguta

Texas buckeye is a small, multi-trunked tree that grows in rocky ravines and on hillsides across the southern plains, tougher against heat and drought than its northern relative Ohio buckeye. Its pale yellow spring flowers give way to capsules holding the large dark seeds that give the whole genus its name - marked with a pale spot like an animal's eye. Every part of the seed is poisonous raw, though it can be leached of its saponins and cooked into a flour, and the crushed leaves and twigs have such a strong foul smell that it earned the nickname fetid buckeye - worth knowing before planting one next to a path or a patio. It casts good summer shade from an open, spreading crown while staying small enough for a modest yard.