It’s Chloe Whitworth’s 3 year anniversary with ArborNote, and she has chosen the California Buckeye (Aesculus californica) for our Tree of the Week! Chloe spent many hours of her childhood collecting their large seeds that fell to the ground. The California Buckeye is native to California and southwestern Oregon. It typically is multi-trunked, with a crown as broad as it is high. Trees are long lived, with an estimated lifespan between 250–280 (300 maximum) years. It grows during the wet late winter and spring months and enters dormancy in the dry summer months, though those growing in coastal regions tend to hold on to their leaves until mid-autumn. It has white to pale pink little flowers that grow in long clusters. Native American tribes, including the Pomo, Yokuts, and Luiseño, used the poisonous nuts and seeds to stupefy schools of fish in small streams to make them easier to catch. Native groups occasionally used the plant as a food supply; after boiling and leaching the toxin out of the seeds or nut meats for several days, they could be ground into a flour or meal similar to that made from acorns. Surprisingly, the pollen and nectar are poisonous to honey bees, so don’t plant one if you live near an apiary!