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Plant Guide

Aesculus californica (Spach) Nutt.
California buckeye
AECA

Summary

Duration

Perennial

Growth Habit

Tree, Shrub

U.S. Nativity

Native to U.S.

Federal T/E Status

 

National Wetland Indicator

 

 

Morphology/Physiology

Active Growth Period

Spring and Summer

After Harvest Regrowth Rate

 

Bloat

None

C:N Ratio

High

Coppice Potential

No

Fall Conspicuous

Yes

Fire Resistant

No

Flower Color

White

Flower Conspicuous

No

Foliage Color

Red

Foliage Porosity Summer

Dense

Foliage Porosity Winter

Porous

Foliage Texture

Coarse

Fruit/Seed Color

Brown

Fruit/Seed Conspicuous

Yes

Growth Form

Single Stem

Growth Rate

Moderate

Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)

30

Height, Mature (feet)

40

Known Allelopath

No

Leaf Retention

No

Lifespan

Long

Low Growing Grass

No

Nitrogen Fixation

 

Resprout Ability

Yes

Shape and Orientation

Erect

Toxicity

Severe

 

Growth Requirements

Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils

Yes

Adapted to Fine Textured Soils

No

Adapted to Medium Textured Soils

No

Anaerobic Tolerance

None

CaCO3 Tolerance

Low

Cold Stratification Required

No

Drought Tolerance

High

Fertility Requirement

Low

Fire Tolerance

Low

Frost Free Days, Minimum

175

Hedge Tolerance

None

Moisture Use

Medium

pH, Minimum

5.5

pH, Maximum

7.5

Planting Density per Acre, Minimum

300

Planting Density per Acre, Maximum

700

Precipitation, Minimum

14

Precipitation, Maximum

75

Root Depth, Minimum (inches)

36

Salinity Tolerance

None

Shade Tolerance

Intolerant

Temperature, Minimum (°F)

2

 

Reproduction

Bloom Period

Summer

Commercial Availability

Contracting Only

Fruit/Seed Abundance

Medium

Fruit/Seed Period Begin

Summer

Fruit/Seed Period End

Fall

Fruit/Seed Persistence

No

Propagated by Bare Root

Yes

Propagated by Bulb

No

Propagated by Container

Yes

Propagated by Corm

No

Propagated by Cuttings

No

Propagated by Seed

Yes

Propagated by Sod

No

Propagated by Sprigs

No

Propagated by Tubers

No

Seed per Pound

12

Seed Spread Rate

Slow

Seedling Vigor

High

Small Grain

No

Vegetative Spread Rate

None

 

Suitability/Use

Berry/Nut/Seed Product

No

Christmas Tree Product

No

Fodder Product

No

Fuelwood Product

Low

Lumber Product

No

Naval Store Product

No

Nursery Stock Product

Yes

Palatable Browse Animal

Low

Palatable Graze Animal

Low

Palatable Human

No

Post Product

Yes

Protein Potential

 

Pulpwood Product

No

Veneer Product

No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Sapindales

Family  Hippocastanaceae -- Horse-chestnut family

Genus  Aesculus L. -- buckeye P

Species  Aesculus californica (Spach) Nutt. -- California buckeye P

 

Alternate Names

Horse chesnut; Indian names: de-sa' ka-la' (Pomo); far'-sokt (Nomlaki); sympt'-ol (Yuki); ah'-te (Coast Miwok)

 

Uses

Ethnobotanic: This tree had multiple cultural uses among California Indian tribes.  Many indigenous groups utilized buckeye seeds for food, often when other plant food sources were scarce.  These tribes included the Costanoan, Salinan, Kitanemuk, Serrano, Wappo, Sierra Miwok, Coast Miwok, Chumash, Kawaiisu, Northern Maidu among others.  The Pomo ate the seeds even when other important food plants were plentiful.  The seeds are poisonous to humans in the raw state.  Thus, the nuts were cracked open with a rock, the shells removed, the seeds pounded into flour, and their toxic saponins removed in a lengthy leaching process.  The meal was subsequently cooked and eaten.  There are many different methods for processing and cooking buckeye seeds for food, depending upon the tribe.  The seeds have medicinal properties and were cut into pieces, mixed with water, and made into suppositories for hemorrhoids by the Costanoan and Kawaiisu.  The Pomo cut bark from the base of the tree and made a poultice, which was laid on a snakebite.  Young buckeye shoots were sometimes used as spindles or twirling sticks in fire-making kits of the Sierra Miwok, Northern Maidu, Wappo, Yahi and other tribes. Many tribes mashed buckeye nuts and poured the contents into quiet pools to stupefy or kill fish.

 

Wildlife: Do not plant buckeyes near apiaries as the flowers are poisonous to honey bees.  No wildlife eat buckeye seeds except squirrels, such as the California ground squirrel (Citellus beecheyi).

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

 

Description

General: Buckeye Family (Hippocastanaceae).  This native, deciduous shrub or tree reaches 12 m in height with a broad, rounded crown.  The palmately compound leaves occur in leaflets of 5 to 7 and each leaflet is oblong-lanceolate and finely serrate.  The inflorescence has many showy flowers in a panicle-like arrangement and it is erect, 1-2 dm. in length.  Each individual flower has 4-5 petals and these are white to pale rose with 5-7 exserted stamens.  The fruit is pear-shaped and smooth.  The large, shiny light-brown seeds are 2-5 cm. 

 

Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

 

Establishment

Adaptation: The California buckeye is one of the first shrubs to leaf out in spring and one of the earliest to shed its leaves in mid-summer. It is found on dry slopes, canyons and the borders of streams in many plant communities below 1700 m. in northwestern and central western California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehachapi Mountains, Great Central Valley, and southwestern Mohave Desert.

 

General: Harvest the large seeds from the tree or shrub about November.  Plant them in the ground immediately--half buried in an area of full sun or light shade.  There is a light spot on the seed, which is the growing point when being formed.  The radicle will sprout from this area so make sure that this spot is covered with soil. Plant the seeds in a well-drained soil.  Water the soil immediately after planting, and if there is not enough rain during the rainy season, supplement it with hand watering.  The plants will also need some summer watering the first year so a good rule to follow is to keep the soil damp.  The tree is a fast grower and can achieve as much as ten inches in height in one year.  After buckeye seeds have been in the ground one full year, they should become established, and will not need continual care. 

 

Management

When the shrub is mature, dead and dying branches can be lightly pruned if necessary.

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.

 

References

Beard, Y.S. 1979.  The Wappo: A report.  Malki Museum Press, Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, California.

 

Collier, M.E.T. & S.B. Thalman (editors) 1991.  Interviews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa: Isabel Kelly's ethnographic notes on the Coast Miwok Indians of Marin and southern Sonoma Counties, California.  Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin Occasional Papers Number 6.

 

Dixon, R.B. 1905.  The Huntington California expedition: the Northern Maidu.  Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 17(3):119-346.

 

Goodrich, J., C. Lawson, & V.P. Lawson. 1980.  Kashaya Pomo plants.  American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California.

 

Harrington, J.P. 1942.  Culture element distributions: XIX central California coast.  Anthropological Records 7(1): 1-45.

 

Martin, A.C., H.S. Zim, & A.L. Nelson. 1951.  American wildlife and plants: A guide to wildlife food habits.  Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York.

 

Stone, W.J. 1993.  Hippocastanaceae.  Page 682 IN: The Jepson manual: Higher plants of California.  J.C. Hickman (ed.). University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

 

USDA, NRCS 2000.  The PLANTS database.  <https://plants.usda.gov>.  001206.  National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

 

Zigmond, M.L. 1981.  Kawaiisu ethnobotany.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Prepared By and Species Coordinators

Kat Anderson

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center,

c/o/ Plant Science Dept., University of California, Davis, California

 

Wayne Roderick

Former Director of the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, California

 

Edited: 29jun03 jsp; 04jun03 ahv; 30may06jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>


 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture 

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