California Buckeye - Aesculus californica
Sometimes a tree in favorable habitats, this buckeye is usually multiple-branched and can form dense thickets. Restricted to California, it grows in chaparral and alongside streams and is the only native buckeye in the West. The palmately-lobed leaves typically have five leaflets The fragrant flowers are borne in long clusters and are a showy whitish-pink. The fruit is a thick, pale, pear-shaped capsule, and the large, dark brown seeds are glossy as well as poisonous. Buckeye trees often go dormant in late summer or in excessive heat, dropping their leaves.