''Aesculus pavia'', known as red buckeye or firecracker plant (formerly ''Pavia rubra''), is a species of
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
. The small tree or shrub is native to the southern and eastern parts of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, found from
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
to
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in the north and from
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
in the south. It is hardy far to the north of its native range, with successful cultivation poleward to
Arboretum Mustila
Arboretum Mustila is an arboretum near Elimäki in southern Finland.
The arboretum was founded in 1902 and is today maintained by a trust. At its inception it was intended as a testing ground for foreign species of conifers. Today it contains sl ...
in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.
It has a number of local names, such as scarlet buckeye, woolly buckeye and firecracker plant.
Description
The red buckeye is a large
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
or small
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
. It reaches a height of , often growing in a multi-stemmed form. Its leaves are opposite, and are composed usually of five elliptical serrated leaflets, each long. It bears clusters of attractive dark red tubular flowers in the spring. The flowers are
hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
. The smooth light brown fruits, about or so in diameter, reach maturity in early fall.
The flowers are attractive to
hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
s as well as
bees.
Varieties
There are two
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
:
*''Aesculus pavia'' var. ''pavia'': typical red buckeye.
*''Aesculus pavia'' var. ''flavescens'': yellow-flowered red buckeye.
The yellow-flowered variety, var. ''flavescens'', is found in higher country in Texas, and
hybrids with intermediate flower color occur.
Ornamental
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
s, such as the low-growing 'Humilis', have been selected for garden use.
Hybrids
Red buckeye has hybridized with common horse-chestnut (''
Aesculus hippocastanum
''Aesculus hippocastanum'', the horse chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the maple, soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large, deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree. It is also called horse-chestnut, Europ ...
'') in cultivation, the hybrid being named ''
Aesculus × carnea'', red horse-chestnut. The hybrid is a medium-sized tree to tall, intermediate between the parent species in most respects, but inheriting the red flower color from ''A. pavia''. It is a popular tree in large
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
s and
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
s, most commonly the selected
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
'Briotii'. Hybrids of red buckeye with
yellow buckeye
''Aesculus flava'', the yellow buckeye, common buckeye, or sweet buckeye, is a species of deciduous tree. It is native to the Ohio Valley and Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States. It grows in mesophytic forest or floodplains, genera ...
(''A. flava'') have also been found, and named ''Aesculus × hybrida''.
Uses
The fruits are rich in
saponin
Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...
s, which are poisonous to humans, although not particularly dangerous because they are not ingested easily. The seeds are poisonous.
The oils can be extracted to make
soap
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...
, although this is not viable commercially.
Gallery
References
External links
photo of Yellow Red Buckeye
{{Taxonbar, from=Q159049
pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
Trees of the Plains-Midwest (United States)
Trees of the North-Central United States
Trees of the Southern United States
Trees of the Southeastern United States
Trees of the South-Central United States
Trees of the United States
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Trees of the Great Lakes region (North America)