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Red Buckeye
Date: April 4, 2005
Photographer: Jennifer Brown
Common name: Red Buckeye
Scientific name: Aesculus pavia
Red buckeye is a deciduous clump-forming shrub or small tree with an irregular rounded crown. It typically grows 10-20’ tall. Showy, erect, 4-10” long panicles of red to orange-red, narrow-tubular flowers appear in spring. Palmately compound, shiny, dark green leaves are attractive in spring and early summer, but usually begin to decline by August. Smooth, light brown, globular (1-2” diameter) seed capsules encase 1-3 shiny seeds called buckeyes that ripen in the fall. Seeds are poisonous and are avoided by most wildlife. Fall foliage color is unremarkable. Red buckeye is native to southeastern Missouri where it typically occurs in low rich wooded valleys, at bluff bases, on wooded slopes and along streams (Steyermark). Flowers are attractive to ruby-throated hummingbirds and bloom in St. Louis at about the same time that the hummingbirds return to the area in spring migration. (Plant info from http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder)
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