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Painted Buckeye

Aesculus sylvatica

Found in forests and woodlands; floodplain and bottomland forests; moist forests; streams, rivers and their banks. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

72
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 100%

Height
10–20 feet
Spread
6–15 feet
Light
Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture
Usually moist

Space about 10.5 ft apart from its recorded spread. Enter your bed size for a count

Will it fit your yard?

At a glance

Life cycle
Woody perennial
Leaves
Deciduous
Bloom
April to May
Fruiting season
July to August

Recorded in 13 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.

1 of 2

Moist forests

Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland
Regional / representative. Shown: Mountains of North and South Carolina; exact site not identified, a neighboring state.Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Watauga Falls
Named place / source context. Shown: Watauga Falls, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Watauga Falls, Illustrator/engraver not confidently attributed; reproduced in Zeigler and Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies (1883), 1883. Public domain. Source record.

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 95 animals.

All wildlife of Virginia

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

36CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Aesculus

  • Achatia distinctaDistinct Quaker
  • Acronicta americanaAmerican Dagger
  • Actias lunaLuna Moth
  • Antheraea polyphemusPolyphemus Moth
  • Archips argyrospilaFruit-Tree Leafroller Moth
  • Archips rileyanaSouthern Ugly-Nest Caterpillar Moth
  • Cecrita biundataWavy-Lined Heterocampa
  • Cecrita guttivittaMaple Prominent, Saddled Prominent
  • Celypha nr.Celypha Moth
  • Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
Show all 36
  • Dasychira dorsipennataSharp-Lined Tussock Moth
  • Eacles imperialisImperial Moth, Imperial Spiny Caterpillar
  • Egira alternansAlternate Woodling
  • Ennomos subsignariaElm Spanworm Moth
  • Epiglaea declivaSloping Sallow
  • Halysidota tessellarisBanded Tussock Moth, Pale Tiger Moth
  • Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
  • Hyphantria cuneaFall Webworm
  • Isa textulaCrowned Slug
  • Lithophane antennataAshen Pinion
  • Lithophane baileyiBailey's Pinion
  • Lithophane groteiGrote's Pinion, Green Fruit Worm
  • Lithophane joannisBuckeye Pinion
  • Lophocampa caryaeHickory Tussock Moth, Hickory Tiger Moth
  • Morrisonia confusaConfused Woodgrain
  • Nematocampa resistariaFilament Bearer, Horned Spanworm Moth
  • Oiketicus abbotiiAbbot's Bagworm Moth
  • Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
  • Orthosia hibisciSpeckled Green Fruitworm Moth, Speckled Green Quaker
  • Proteoteras aesculanaMaple Seed Caterpillar, Maple Twig Borer
  • Psaphida rolandiRoland's Sallow
  • Pseudexentera spolianaBare-Patched Leafroller
  • Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth
  • Trigrammia quadrinotariaFour-Spotted Angle
  • Zeiraphera claypoleanaBuckeye Petiole Borer
  • Olethreutes monetiferanum
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
22BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Aesculus

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Sapindaceae
Hardiness
Zones 6b–8b
Flower color
Cream, yellow, green, pink or red
Growth rate
Moderate
Growth habit
Single stem
Foliage color
Green
Fruit begins
July
Fruit ends
August

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope
  • Bloom · “April to mid May” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Flower color · “Cream, yellow, green, pink or red” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
  • Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
  • Fruit begins · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; NC Extension Plant Toolbox, USDA PLANTS differ) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Fruit ends · “August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; NC Extension Plant Toolbox, USDA PLANTS differ) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Growth habit · “Single stem” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
  • Growth rate · “Moderate” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
  • Hardiness · “Zones 6b–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
  • Height · “10–20 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
  • Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
  • Life cycle · “Woody perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
  • Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
  • Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
  • Spread · “6–15 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox

Conservation status

Virginia rankS4
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources