Tree · Hippocastanaceae
Yellow buckeye
Aesculus flava
Yellow buckeye is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 250 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Yellow buckeye at a glance
- Native in
- 250 counties, across 12 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b PLANTS minimum temperature −18°F
- Mature height
- 65 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −18°F; zone 5b winters bottom out at −15°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Yellow buckeye is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 250 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 250 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 1 county
- Georgia 13 counties
- Illinois 1 county
- Indiana 6 counties
- Kentucky 73 counties
- North Carolina 18 counties
- Ohio 22 counties
- Pennsylvania 14 counties
- South Carolina 3 counties
- Tennessee 37 counties
- Virginia 30 counties
- West Virginia 32 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 65 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 39 to 84 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 36 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −18°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- Severe
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Hippocastanaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- AEFL
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Aesculus flava (PLANTS symbol AEFL).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources