Plant of the Day - Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtle)

Lagerstroemia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Myrtales
Family: Lythraceae
Genus: Lagerstroemia Linnaeus
Species: See text

Lagerstroemia (pronounced /ˌleɪɡərˈstriːmiə/),[1] commonly known as Crape-myrtle,[2] is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia and parts of Oceania. It is a member of the Lythraceae, which is also known as the Loosestrife family.

While various species and cultivars are able to fill a wide variety of landscape needs, crape-myrtles are chiefly famous for their colorful and long-lasting flowers. Most species of Lagerstroemia have sinewy, fluted stems and branches with a mottled appearance that arises from having bark that sheds throughout the year. The leaves are opposite, simple, with entire margins, and vary from 5-20 cm (2-8 in). While all species are woody in nature, they can range in height from over 100 feet to under one foot; most, however are small to medium multiple-trunked trees and shrubs. The leaves of temperate species provide autumn colour.

Flowers are borne in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers with a crepe-like texture. Colours vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Although no blue-flowered varieties exist, it is toward the blue end of the spectrum that the flowers trend, with no sight of orange or yellow except in stamens and pistils. The fruit is a capsule, green and succulent at first, then ripening to dark brown or black dryness. It splits along six or seven lines, producing teeth much like those of the calyx, and releases numerous small winged seeds.

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