James Goshinska, age 9, of Sioux City, Iowa, for his question:

What exactly is a buckeye?

We all know that Ohio is called the Buckeye State and the beauteous buckeye is its state tree. There was a time when the lovely woodsy hills of Ohio were crowded with these big spreading trees. Many of them have been cut down and used for lumber    but there are still buckeye trees in the Buckeye State. There are several different kinds and some people call them horse chestnut trees.

This splendid tree grows very tall and spreads its shady boughs very wide. Its large leaves are like spreading hands of wide green fingers. In spring, the boughs bear spikes of huge blossoms and the tree looks like a Christmas tree adorned with hundreds of showy candles. Come fall, some bear fruit like prickly balls. Inside the rough cases are shiny, chestnut brown nuts    which are bitter and not good to eat. The handsome tree is called a buckeye because the shiny brown nut looks somewhat like the shiny brown eye of a buck    which is a male deer