California Buckeye

Aesculus californica subsp. var.	California buckeye
File:Aesculus californica-21.jpg	Habit: tree Height: ⇕ to Width: ⇔ to 15ft 30ft Height: ⇕ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 15 ft Width: ⇔ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 30 ft Lifespan: ⌛ perennial Origin: ✈ Poisonous: ☠ seeds slightly toxic Bloom: ❀ early summer, mid summer, late summer	Exposure: ☼ sun Water: ◍ Features: ✓ flowers Hidden fields, interally pass variables to right place Minimum Temp: ☃ °Fwarning.png"°F" is not a number. USDA Zones: 7 to 10 Sunset Zones: 4-10, 12, 14-24 Flower features: ❀ red, pink, white
	Hippocastanaceae > Aesculus californica var. ,

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.

Gallery

• Aesculus californica flowers Los Trancos CA.jpg

  photo 1

• Aesculus californica-26.jpg

  photo 2

• Aesculus californica-Seed-3.jpg

  photo 3

• Aesculus californica-11.jpg

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

• w:California Buckeye. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• California Buckeye QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)