Buckeye, Bottle Brush

Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye) is a deciduous mound shaped, thicket-forming suckering shrub , 6-12 ft. tall, with picturesque, ascending, candelabra-like branching.

Bottlebrush Buckeye is a species of Aesculus native of open woodlands of the southeastern United States. It is also called “dwarf horse chestnut” in recognition of its resemblance to its more famous relative A. hippocastanum.

Best suited for shaded, moist, well-drained, shallow soils over limestone or loamy sands.

The LEAVES are opposite, palmately compound with 5-7 leaflets, oval to obovate leaflets are 3 to 6 inches long with a serrated margin, rachis about as long as leaflets, dark green above and paler below turning yellow-green in fall. Strong fetid odor when crushed.

The feathery FLOWERS are produced in conspicuous erect panicles 4-7 inch long resembling a traditional bottle brush, each flower with a tubular calyx, small light yellow petals, and several protruding pink stamens. Blooms form In early summer (June – July) after other eastern buckeyes have finished.

The FRUIT is a Prickly, leathery, yellow colored husk enclosing a smooth chestnut brown SEED (1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter). Borne on a stout stalk and mature in fall.

WOOD is stout, with a large shield-shaped leaf scar; fetid odor when broken; terminal buds are large, orangish brown with keeled scales; opposite lateral buds are much smaller. Lowest branches are horizontal and often rest on the ground.

BARK is initially smooth, ashy gray but later developing corky, scaly patches, becoming quite rough and darker gray.

WILDLIFE benefit from this ornamental plant in gardens, where its August flowering attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. The naturalist, explorer and plant collector William Bartram first noted this undescribed shrub on his travels through the South in 1773-78. The shrub has never become common in Eastern American gardens

ECOLOGY: Seeds and foliage of Aesculus species are poisonous to humans if eaten. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.