The flowers appear in May or June and are white with throats dotted with yellow and purple. The nut closely resembles the Ohio buckeye. The bark is dark brown, and breaks up into thin plates which peel off slowly. The buds are large, varnished, reddish-brown, and very resinous. This characteristic distinguishes the tree from the yellow buckeye and Ohio buckeye which have non-resinous buds.
Buds are larger and more sticky than others in the genus.
The wood is soft, light, weak, and white. The yellow buckeye ranges from western Pennsylvania through southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to Iowa and Oklahoma, and south to Georgia and Texas. It is confined to southern Ohio, extending northward to Monroe and Fairfield counties. Rich bottom lands and lower slopes are its favorite home. It never occurs in pure stands, but is usually found in mixtures with other hardwoods.