Conkers anyone?

Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) leaves and fruit

Fruit and fruit shells of Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) - the shells (two split pieces behind the fruit) are not spiny like Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).

Every time someone asks me “what are the shiny brown things?” that they got from the  ground underneath the Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), I wonder what they did as kids in the fall.  I grew up in England where we had horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), very similar trees but bigger and with spiny fruit casings instead of the smoother ones in the picture. The fruit inside look the same though.

We would collect hundreds of the fruit, stomping on the spiny shells to get to the fruit inside. 
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Seen-Again Trees

It’s true landscape architects speak about a concept called “borrowed views.”  You don’t own the bucolic pasture, the fabulous waterfront, or the mountain range to your west, but you can see it from your window.  You’re “borrowing” that view to add to your own space.  But when I say “seen-again” plant, I mean taking a fresh look at what seemed to be known.
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