Aesculus parviflora Walt.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Aesculus parviflora' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/aesculus/aesculus-parviflora/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Genus

Aesculus

Synonyms

A. macrostachya Michx.
Pavia macrostachya (Michx.) Loisel.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
leaflet: Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Aesculus parviflora' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/aesculus/aesculus-parviflora/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Aesculus parviflora flowers at Lime Close, Oxfordshire, UK. July 2019. Image MC de Laubarède.

A shrub 8 to 15 ft high, usually broader than it is high, consisting of a crowd of slender stems, and spreading by means of sucker growths at the base. Rarely it forms a single trunk, and thus becomes a small tree. Leaves usually consisting of five, but sometimes seven, leaflets; each leaflet from 3 to 9 in. long, and 11⁄4 to 4 in. wide, obovate, tapering towards both ends, shallowly round-toothed, covered densely beneath with greyish down. Panicles cylindrical, erect, 8 to 12 in. long, 4 in. wide from the tips of the stamens. Flowers white; petals normally four, 1⁄2 in. long, the stamens thread-like and pinkish white, standing out fully an inch beyond them; anthers red. Fruit glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 2118.

Native of the S.E. United States; introduced by John Fraser in 1785. There are few shrubs about which more could be said in favour than this. It flowers freely in late July and August, at a time when few shrubs are in flower. It is of neat yet graceful habit, and it has a hardy, vigorous constitution. No better plant could be recommended as a lawn shrub, especially for places that are visited in August – such as many pleasure resorts. It rarely ripens seed in this country – only during such a hot, sunny season as that of 1911 – but can be propagated by division. There is a specimen in the R.H.S. Garden at Wisley, near the Restaurant, about 10 ft high and 15 ft across (1967).

Aesculus parviflora flowering at Lime Close, Oxfordshire, UK. July 2019. Image MC de Laubarède.

Aesculus parviflora at Lime Close, Oxfordshire, UK. July 2019. Image MC de Laubarède.

Aesculus parviflora leaves in Sheffield Park Garden, East Sussex, UK. May 2019. Image Ron Kemeny.

The slender stems and suckers of Aesculus parviflora in Sheffield Park Garden, East Sussex, UK. May 2019. Image Ron Kemeny.

A 5.2 m high Aesculus parviflora in Sheffield Park Garden, East Sussex, UK, May 2019. Image Ron Kemeny.

A massive specimen of Aesculus parviflora at the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 4 July 2009 Image Paul W. Meyer.

Aesculus parviflora* at the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 17 October 2014 Image Paul W. Meyer.

Aesculus parviflora in autumn dress is quite attractive (Yorkshire Arboretum, late October 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Unfolding leaves on Aesculus parviflora, the leaves with 5– to 7 leaflets, at the Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (31 May 2013). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Juvenile leaf with 7 leaflets on Aesculus parviflora (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (31 May 2013). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Initial fine pubescence on lamina lower surface of Aesculus parviflora (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 31 May 2013). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Serrulate lamina margin on Aesculus parviflora (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 31 May 2013). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

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