Index / Search / Aesculus californica

§1 Plant

Aesculus californica (Spach) Nutt.

vernacular California buckeye — species · Hippocastanaceae


USDA
AECA
GBIF
3189813
Rank
species
California buckeye (Aesculus californica)
Platephotograph · Gary GriffithCC BY-NC-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub, Tree
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Hippocastanaceae A. Rich.
Genus
Aesculus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 44 counties across 2 states/territories
Legend Native · 44 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
Medium
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Medium
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
2 °F minimum
Frost-free days
175 min.
Precipitation
40–75 in/yr
pH range
5.5–7.5
Root depth
36 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Stem
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
25 ft
Height @ 20 y
25 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Red
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
Severe
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
12
Propagation
seed, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
Yes
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
Yes
Lumber
Yes
Fuelwood
Low
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 44 counties across 2 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/AECA ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3189813 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z