The beautiful Red Buckeye from John SC

It is shrub-like with leaf branches with five leaves . The leaves look a bit like marijuana leaves. Right one there are red flower clusters at the end of the branches. Each individual flower is about one linchpin long . This shrub is growing on our house lot outside Beaufort but we have seen then growing in the wild as well.

 

John,this is a wonderful native small tree or shrub, and an early favorite of hummingbirds.  It is Aesculus pavia, the red buckeye.  It is also related to the horsechestnut of Europe and the Ohio buckeye.  In the upstate it often seems to hybridize with the woodland buckeye, Aesculus sylvatica, resulting in shrubs with salmon-colored flowers.  The red buckeye is certainly a personal favorite.

Dr. Steven R. Hill,  SCNPS botanist

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