Synonyms: Aesculus flava var. purpurascens, Aesculus lutea, Aesculus lutea var. discolor, Aesculus maxima, Aesculus octandra, Aesculus octandra f. vestita, Aesculus octandra f. virginica, Aesculus octandra var. hybrida, Aesculus octandra var. purpurascens, Aesculus octandra var. vestita, Aesculus octandra var. virginica, Aesculus pavia var. flava, Nebropsis neglecta, Pavia bicolor, Pavia discolor, Pavia flava, Pavia hybrida, Pavia lutea, Pavia neglecta, Pavia reticulata, Pawia octandra
Aesculus flava is cultivated as an ornamental tree. The tree's showy yellow flowers and good autumn color are attractive in larger gardens and in parks. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The leaves are palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, 10–25 cm long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 2–3 cm long with the stamens shorter than the petals (unlike the related A. glabra (Ohio buckeye), where the stamens are longer than the petals). The twigs have a faintly rank odor, but much less so than the Ohio buckeye, A. glabra. The fruit is a smooth (spineless), round or oblong capsule 5–7 cm diameter, containing 1-3 nut-like seeds, 2.5-3.5 cm diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar. The fruit is poisonous to humans but can be made edible through a leaching process.