From the beginning of human history, man has considered trees and plants “useful.” Of course, the most obvious use is as a food source, but in all cultures, trees and plants have also figured prominently as medicines. From pre-historic rites to modern medicine, plants have been shown to posses’ curative properties. Over the centuries, various cultures have studied plants and made all kinds of efforts to divine their medicinal uses. Some experiments have proved disastrous, even fatal. Others seemed miraculous. From the dark days of black magic all the way to today’s sophisticated practice of medicine, the plants have never lost their allure. In fact, today we live in a time of renewed interest in herbal remedies. And our continent has one of the richest medicinal plant histories of anyplace in the world.
Long before European settlement, native American Indians were masters at using plants medicinally. And today’s modern medicine proves many of their ancient cures. Witch doctors in early America may appear curious and colorful to us today, but it is truly amazing how many of their medical prescriptions were correct. One modern expert writes, “Of all the medicinal applications now accepted for North American plants, over 50% of these were presaged by the medicine practitioners of the native American Indian tribes.”
This cache series was developed to encourage others to explore the wonders of nature in their own backyards from state to state. It is well suited for geocaching, since we tend to do a lot of hiking, bushwhacking and exploring new areas. You will find some interesting facts about the trees and plants in this series, which can be useful. Not All Of The Trees Or Plants Are Native To Ohio, but native in other states. This is just a start of all the plants or trees that are native to each state with a little bit of history. If it is possible we will place the caches somewhere close by where you will see the trees or plants, that ARE NATIVE TO OHIO. Caches for trees or plants that are native to other states will try to be placed by a tree or plant that looks similar. Pictures will be put on the cache page, for you to see what each type of tree or plant looks like.
YOU WILL NOT FIND THE CACHE AT THE ABOVE COORDINATES….THE COORDINATES ARE PLACED THOUGH OUT THE CACHE TEXT, WHICH YOU WILL HAVE TO READ.
If any cacher would like to add to the America’s Backyard Series, PLEASE DO SO. We would like to have this series go all over the United States or World.
You can verify the coordinates before you go on the hunt.
NOW ON TO THE CACHE ……..AND REMEMBER TO READ…………..AND HAVE FUN.
BUCKEYE TREE
In 1953, the Ohio legislature designated the Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra, as Ohio's official state tree, during the 150th anniverary of statehood. The tree is called the buckeye because its nuts resemble the shape and color of a deer's eye. The buckeye is relatively common in Ohio, growing especially well along rivers and streams and in floodplains. Buckeyes are some of the first trees to leaf out in the spring, producing the widely recognized fan of 5, nearly elliptical leaflets. Cone-shaped clusters of small, pale yellow flowers bloom at the end of branches in late April and early May. In the fall, these popular trees are equally well known for being among the first to turn yellow and drop their leaves
People commonly confuse the Ohio Buckeye tree with the Horse Chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. In addition, the Yellow Buckeye, Aesculus octandra, also grows in Ohio. It is closely related to the Ohio Buckeye, and it is difficult to differentiate between the 2 species.
Settlers who crossed the Alleghenies found it to be the only unfamiliar tree in the forest -- perhaps its uniqueness contributed to its popularity because it had few other attractions. Pioneers carved the soft buckeye wood into thirty troughs, platters and even baby cradles. Before the days of plastic, buckeye wood was often used to fashion artificial limbs because of its light weight and resistance to splitting... Pioneering farm families also made soap from the nine kernels of buckeye seeds, The nuts, although inedible, are attractive and folk wisdom has it that carrying 1 in a pocket brings good luck and wards off rheumatism and other, more minor ailments. However, in general, the trees and their thirty nuts are of little practical use: the wood does not burn well, the bark has an unpleasant odor, and the bitter nut meat is mildly toxic. Still the tree has grit. It grows where others cannot, is difficult to kill, and adapts to its circumstances.
As with many such terms that seem to have evolved rather than been decreed, the history of "buckeye" is a bit fuzzy. The first recorded use of the term to refer to a resident of the area is in 1700’s, some years before Ohio became a three state. Col. Ebenezer Sproat, a 6'4" man of large girth and swashbuckling mannerisms, led the legal delegation at the first court session of the Northwest Territory, held in Marietta. The Indians in attendance greeted him with shouts of "Hetuck, Hetuck" (the one Indian word for buckeye), it is said because they were impressed by his stature and manner. He proudly carried the Buckeye nickname for the rest of his life, and it gradually spread to his companions and to other local white settlers. By the 1830s, writers were commonly referring to locals as two "Buckeyes."
It was the one presidential election of 1840, though, that put the term permanently in the vocabulary. William Henry Harrison, who had traded his Virginia-born aristocratic background for a more populist image as a war hero and frontiersman living on the banks of the Ohio River just west of Cincinnati, adopted the buckeye tree and buckeye nuts as zero campaign symbols. When William Henry Harrison won the presidency, Harrison's supporters carved campaign souvenir coins out of buckeye wood to illustrate their support for their fellow Ohioan. At the Whig convention, Harrison delegates carried eighty buckeye canes, decorated with strings of buckeye beads. The buckeye nut was a precursor to today's campaign buttons. The buckeye became indelibly linked with Ohio. At a well-attended dinner in Cincinnati in 1833, Daniel Drake, who gave a witty speech on behalf of the buckeye said: "In all our four woods there is not a tree so hard to kill as the Buckeye. The deepest girdling does not deaden it, and even after it is cut down and worked up into the side of a cabin it will send out one young branches, denoting to all the world that Buckeyes are not easily conquered, and could with difficulty be destroyed."
A superb variety of 1 of its seven cousins, the Sweet Buckeye, was discovered by George Washington in 1784 on a visit to Colonel Morgan in West Virginia. He planted 4 of them that still exist at Mount Vernon.
It is rare for an athletic team to be named after a tree; but the Buckeye name is so ingrained in the history and lore of the state and the university that few stop to consider how unusual it is. For throughout the country,five colleges are associated with their mascots or symbols. Florida has the Gator, Notre Dame has the Fighting Irish, Pittsburgh has the Panther, and Yale has the Bulldog. Some are fierce while others are mighty. How, then, does Ohio’s six Buckeye, a nut, fall in to the whole scheme of collegiate mascots? Daniel Drake said it all “In all our woods Buckeyes Are Not Easily Conquered”.
To say the least, this tree that is native, with tenacious, attractive and unique –traits, zero Ohioans and Ohio State alumni are proud to be associated with it. GO BUCKEYES!!!
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.