Trees & woodland lore · Western North Carolina field companion
Red buckeye
Aesculus pavia
Leaves and fruit. Taxon reference; photograph alone does not establish a named cultivar.◐ Part sun or part shadeDavid J. Stang ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; no diagnostic content altered.
Hummingbird-attracting native understory tree; foliage may drop early in hot dry summers.
Follow each stalk: five toothed leaflets meet like fingers at a palm. The whole leaves attach opposite each other.
More growing details
Read the bark
Gray-brown bark is fairly smooth when young and becomes scaly.
Fruit & seed
Smooth to slightly bumpy capsules enclose shiny brown seeds. Seeds are toxic; learn by observation.
Winter character
Large opposite buds and leaf scars help identify bare twigs.
Origin & place
Native to the southeastern Coastal Plain in NC, generally absent from the Appalachians in the wild. Planted red buckeye can still be studied in WNC gardens.
Compare with Painted buckeye
Its flowers can have pink or red tones; leaves alone may not resolve the species. Check mature flowers, petiole color, and local range with a regional key.
Compare with Yellow buckeye
Both have palmately compound leaves, but yellow buckeye has yellow flowers and becomes a much larger forest tree.
WNC Notes
Hummingbird-attracting native understory tree; foliage may drop early in hot dry summers.
Sun Exposure
Part sun–part shade–part shade
MATURE HEIGHT (FT)
10–20
MATURE WIDTH (FT)
10–20
BLOOM SEASON
Mid spring
BLOOM COLOR
Catkins
FALL / WINTER COLOR
Yellow; early dormancy-brown
Wet-Soil Tolerance
Moderate–high
Drought Tolerance
Low
LOOK CLOSELY
Two views, a closer look.
Place two photographs beside one another. Compare the overall plant with leaves, flowers, or bark when those views are available. Captions identify what each photograph actually shows. Images are not at the same scale; species references may show different cultivars.
Leaves and fruit. Taxon reference; photograph alone does not establish a named cultivar.◐ Part sun or part shadeDavid J. Stang ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; no diagnostic content altered.Fruit — species reference; cultivar identity not inferred.◐ Part sun or part shadeJudy Gallaghe ↗ · CC BY 2.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; full original composition retained.
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