Red buckeye

Anyone not familiar with red buckeye, Aesculus pavia var. pavia, who saw one of these red capsules while it was still closed would probably assume it’s a bud, but you can see here that it isn’t: the casing opens to release not flowers but new compound leaves that are initially much crinkled. I took today’s photograph, the first of this species to appear here, in Great Hills Park on March 7.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman