California Buckeye

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Aesculus californica-21.jpg


Plant Characteristics
Habit   tree

Height: 15 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Width: 30 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 30.
Lifespan: perennial
Poisonous: seeds slightly toxic
Bloom: early summer, mid summer, late summer
Cultivation
Exposure: sun
Features: flowers
USDA Zones: 7 to 10
Sunset Zones: 4-10, 12, 14-24
Flower features: red, pink, white
Scientific Names

Hippocastanaceae >

Aesculus >

californica >


Aesculus californica (California Buckeye or California Horse-chestnut) is a species of buckeye that is endemic to California, and the only buckeye native to the state.

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 4–12 m tall, with gray bark often coated with lichens or mosses. It typically is multi-trunked with a crown as broad as it is high. The leaves are dark green, palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, each leaflet 6–17 cm long, with a finely toothed margin and (particularly in spring) downy surfaces. The leaves are tender and prone to damage from both spring freezing or snow and summer heat and desiccation.

The flowers are sweet-scented, white to pale pink, produced in erect panicles 15–20 cm long and 5–8 cm broad. The nectar is toxic and can kill honey bees. The fruit is a fig-shaped capsule 5–8 cm long, containing a large (2–5 cm), round, orange-brown seed; the seeds are poisonous. The California Buckeye has adapted to its native Mediterranean climate by growing during the wet winter and spring months and entering dormancy in late summer, though those growing in coastal regions tend to hold on to their leaves until mid-autumn; it begins the year's growth in early spring and begins dropping leaves by mid-summer.

Cultivation

Propagation

Pests and diseases

Varieties

Gallery

References

  • Casebeer, M. (2004). Discover California Shrubs. Sonora, California: Hooker Press. ISBN 0-9665463-1-8
  • Bakker, E. (1971). "An Island Called California". Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04948-9

External links