Back in late 1969, early 1970, Not long after I had returned to Surveying for the Highway Dept. from my Army tour, We were topo'ing a yard North of Searcy, Arkansas for the new 4 lane version of US highway 167. The property owner came out and asked the Instrument man to guess what kind of tree that was in His yard. The Instrument man looked it over, and replied that it looked like a buckeye to Him, but He had never seen one that big. It was a tree about 8-10 inches in diameter. I had never seen a buckeye of any kind at the time, but I remember it very well. I could probably find that house, if it is still there, today. I got pretty good at ID'ing trees as time went along, but still ran into some transplants that would stump me. I figure that was brought in from elsewhere, as I never saw another as big in Arkansas after that. I did see a forty acre patch that was probably near 50% persimmon near Fordyce, Arkansas that was the largest that I ever saw. They would run between 24" and 30" diameter. I never knew until then that they got that big. All that I have ever seen was small, around 10" diameter. Was back there a few years later and that patch had been clearcut. miles
