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Native Plant Highlight: red buckeye
Native Plant Highlight: Red buckeye / Aesculus pavia
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This article is courtesy of the Coast Plain Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society. The GNPS is dedicated to promoting the stewardship and conservation of Georgia’s native plants and their habitats. The Coastal Plain Chapter serves the people in the Coastal Plain ecoregion of Georgia. This includes all areas south of the Fall Line in middle Georgia, from the Alabama and Florida borders to the Atlantic ocean. To learn more, please visit their website.
Article and photographs by: Heather Brasell heather.brasell@gmail.com; 229-339-3966
At this time of year, mid-April, my red buckeyes (Aesculus pavia) are in full glory with humming birds buzzing around to drink nectar. It is such a beautiful sight that I have just planted a short hedge of them to guide people through my garden. Red buckeyes are in the horse-chestnut (Hippocastanaceae) family and are named after the 16 th century Dutch botanist Peter Paaw.
Red buckeye is a very attractive deciduous shrub to small tree (10-20 feet tall) that is native from North Carolina to central Texas, through north Florida, and north to Illinois. They thrive on moist soils in partly shaded sites, so you will find them in the understory of mixed hardwood communities, including along streams and on slopes.
Foliage is handsome and easy to recognize. Leaves are large, palmately compound, and are arranged opposite each other on the stem. Five lance-shaped leaflets join from the same point on the long stalk. Each leaflet is up to 6 inches long and 2 ½ inches wide.
They are glossy dark green on the top surface and paler whitish color and fine hairs underneath. Leaflets have toothed edges. The leaves fall early, often dropping by late summer, so consider it as a feature plant in your garden only from early spring through summer.
Flowers are spectacular, occurring in April and May. This coincides with the northern migration of ruby-throated humming birds (Archilochus colubris), which are the main pollinators for the species. Numerous flowers form in clusters nearly a foot long at the end of stout twigs. Each flower is 1 – 1 ½ inches long. They are vivid red, with four dissimilar red petals emerging from a red calyx to form a tubular shape.
The upper flowers in a cluster are male and have only stamens. Lower flowers in the cluster are perfect, with both male and female parts. The yellow stamens barely poke out of the end of the tube, but the rounded red stigma is clearly visible emerging from the tube.
The fruit is a large, brown, husked capsule. Unlike husks from fruits of other species in the horsechestnut family, red buckeye husks are smooth and not prickly. The capsule contains 1-3 large, glossy reddish-brown seeds (“buckeyes”). Even though the seeds are toxic, they are eaten by squirrels.
I tried to propagate some last year and every seed disappeared. Next year, I will use some kind of cage to prevent them from being eaten. Because the seeds have a high fat content, they decompose quickly. If you want to propagate them, be sure to plant them immediately, they mature, as soon as they are firm and brown.
Red buckeye can be used as a feature plant, for screening, or in woodland or rain gardens. They should be planted in part shade, protected in particular from afternoon sun. Soaking with water during droughts will delay leaf loss. However, avoid over watering because this can cause leaf spot diseases. Plants are moderately resistant to deer browse.
When you plant red buckeye, be aware that seeds and young shoots are toxic to humans and dogs. They contain saponins, alkaloids, and glycosides that can cause a variety of symptoms, including kidney failure. Toxicity is highly variable, depending on the plant part, season, as well as the age and condition of the person.
Indigenous people crushed the toxic plant parts to stupefy fish and make them easier to catch. Cherokee people used the nuts as a poultice for swellings, sprains and infections. They also used teas made from bark to help delivery and stop bleeding afterwards. Roots were used to make a soap substitute. A black dye can be extracted from the wood.
Red buckeye is a beautiful plant for your garden, attracting hummingbirds and feeding squirrels. However, be careful where you plant it and be sure children and dogs don’t eat the seeds.
References
Chafin, L. G, 2016. Field guide to the wildflowers of Georgia and surrounding states. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Hamel, P. B., & M. U. Chiltoskey. 1975. Cherokee plants and their uses – a 400 year history.
Illinois Wildflowers. Red buckeye. https://www. illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/red_buckeye. html
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Plant database: Aesculus pavia. https://www.wildflower. org/plants/result.php?id_plant=aepa
North Carolina State Extension. Aesculus pavia var. mpavia. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ aesculus-pavia-var-pavia/
