The bee-bee tree carries a name with two layers of explanation: the common one refers to the small, pellet-like seeds that follow flowering, while the botanical name honors William Freeman Daniell, a British army surgeon and botanist who collected plants across West Africa in the 1840s. The tree itself is a rounded, umbrella-shaped deciduous specimen that reaches 25 to 30 feet, filling a role few trees occupy. It blooms in late summer, often August into September, with clusters of small yellow flowers at a moment in the season when gardens have largely gone quiet. The timing is strategic for pollinators and particularly beloved by bees.

Grow it in full sun in moist, fertile, well-drained soil, though it will tolerate light shade without complaint. Hardy from zones 4 to 8, it is a practical landscape tree for much of the country. The one caveat worth taking seriously: this tree spreads. From a single specimen, a dense thicket can establish, and in some regions it has escaped cultivation and seeded into woodland understories. Monitoring volunteers and removing seedlings before they establish keeps it a garden asset rather than a problem. The foliage sometimes develops fall color, though it often drops while still green.