Alternate name: Scarlet Buckeye
Family: Hippocastanaceae, Horse-chestnut view all from this family
Description Shrub or small tree with bright red flowers and irregular crown of short, crooked branches.
Height: 25' (7.6 m).
Diameter: 8" (20 cm).
Leaves: opposite; palmately compound; with slender leafstalks 3-6" (7.5-15 cm) long. 5 (sometimes 7) leaflets 2 1/2-6" (6-15 cm) long, 1 1/4-2 1/2" (3-6 cm) wide; narrowly elliptical; irregular saw-toothed; short-stalked. Dark green with sunken veins and nearly hairless above, dull green and sometimes densely covered with whitish hairs beneath.
Bark: brown-gray to light gray; smooth.
Twigs: reddish-brown; stout.
Flowers: 1 1/4" (3 cm) long; with 4 unequal bright red (sometimes yellow-red or yellow) petals and 6-8 stamens about as long as petals; many, narrow upright branched clusters 4-8" (10-20 cm) long; in late spring.
Fruit: 1 1/2-2" (4-5 cm) in diameter; a smooth light brown capsule, splitting on 2-3 lines; 1-3 large rounded shiny brown poisonous seeds; maturing in early autumn.
Warning Seeds are poisonous to humans if eaten. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.
Habitat Moist soils, especially along river bluffs, borders of streams, swamps, and in flood plains; in understory of mixed forests.
Range SE. North Carolina southwest to N. Florida, west to central Texas, and north S. Illinois; to 1500' (457 m).
Discussion Planted as a handsome ornamental for the showy red flowers, suggesting firecrackers. American Indians threw powdered seeds and crushed branches of this and other buckeyes into pools of water to stupify fish. The fish then rose to the surface and were easily caught. Pioneers used the gummy roots as a soap substitute and made home remedies from the bitter bark. The scientific name, pavia, is an old word for "buckeye."
