SAPINDACEAE - - Soapberry Family

Aesculus parviflora Walter — Bottlebrush Buckeye

Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) can be a tree from 15-20 feet tall, but usually is a many-trunked, mounding or sprawling shrub; leaves with 5-7 deciduous, palmately compound leaflets; flowers white, with stamens 3-4 times longer than the petals, in terminal racemes 8-12 inches long. Bottlebrush Buckeye is native only to Alabama, Georgia and one county in South Carolina, but is a popularly cultivated plant across the Southeast and as far north as Pennsylvania. The National Champion has a circumference of 41 inches, a height of 14 feet and a crown spread of 25 feet.

Separating Characteristics

Graceful shrub growing in colonies, with small white flowers (with no pink or yellow blotch) in a long slender showy panicle, 8 to 12 inches long or longer, resembling a bottle brush (hence the common name); mature buds only 6-7 mm long with 4 exposed scales that exude a chalky substance; stalk of leaflets of larger leaves 14-21 mm long; stamens long exserted, 3-4 times the length of the petals; fruit borne on long drooping stalks; at least some peduncles persist into the 2nd year blooming time; blooms from May to July, which is later than the other species.

Habitat

Mesic forests on bluffs and in ravines (the South Carolina occurrence is on Fall Line river bluffs, with shaley, subcalcareous soils). Occasionally planted outside its native range.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

Native Range

West central Georgia west to northern Alabama, south to southwest Georgia and southwest Alabama; disjunct in west central South Carolina (Aiken County).

The native range of Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush Buckeye)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush Buckeye)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.