The bottlebrush buckeye is an attractive American species growing in the Woodland Garden.
Introduced to our gardens in 1785, Aesculus parviflora is a low growing, suckering, shrubby chestnut, which originates form the south-eastern United States. The palmate leaves have five to seven leaflets whose underside is covered in a fine grey down. erect, slender panicles bear tubular with protruding stamens and red anthers. A. parviflora requires a hot, sunny, late summer for seed to ripen, so seldom sets seed in the United Kingdom. All members of the genus Aesculus were once assigned to the family Hippocastanaceae, which comprised mainly chestnuts, but the genus now sits in the larger family Sapindaceae, which includes Koelreuteria and Acer.