When we consider flowering trees in the spring landscape painting , we naturally retrieve of our favorites , such as Cercis canadensis , dogwoods , serviceberries , flowering cherry tree and plum . Yet another endearing tree belong to in that auspicious group . I ’m referring toChionanthus virginicus — our aboriginal fringetree .
InA Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America , author Donald Culross Peattie , a mid-20thcentury botanist , naturalist , and prolific nature author , write : “ The Fringetree is as willowy and feminine - seeming as any that grows beside the rush stream or climbs the lovesome gradient of the Blue Ridge under the protection of sturdier growths . ” Peattie further meditate : “ … it is a raving mantrap when in mid - spring it is loaded from top to bottom with the airiest , most ethereal yet showy flowers bluster by any penis of our northern sylva . ” Wow ! What an expressive pick of term to describe one of the most enthralling leap - blossom trees in North America .
Dr. Michael A. Dirr , plantsman extraordinaire , has his own take on the value of the fringetree , recommending it for consideration in hisManual of Woody Landscape Plants“ … as the internal shrub for even dogwood does not carry itself with such refinement , dignity and class when in heyday … . ”
leave Peattie ’s and Dirr ’s clear warmheartedness for this tree , it deserves to be better known and more widely used in the landscape .
FRINGETREE verbal description
In 1737 , Linnaeus named this plantChionanthus virginicus(pronounced kee - oh - NAN - thus ver - JIN - ih - kus ) , which is derived from a compounding of the Greek wordschion(snow ) andanthos(flower ) . Its many common names include quondam man ’s whiskers , Grancy old man , flowering ash tree , white fringetree , or simply fringetree , which most hoi polloi choose . A extremity of theOleaceaegenus , fringetree is relate to the lilac , privet , forsythia , jasmine , ash tree tree and Olea europaea tree .
aboriginal to the United States , fringetree spring up in Missouri and eventually spread throughout the easterly half of the rural area as far northerly as New Jersey , south to Florida , and Rebecca West to Oklahoma and Texas . It has prove to be fairly hardy in USDA geographical zone 4 – 9 and , thanks to the nursery trade , has been planted throughout most of the New England state and points west . Historically , Native Americans used the barque and flowers for medicinal purposes to deal skin inflammations , sores and wounds .
A slow - growing , big shrub or belittled , deciduous ornamental tree , fringetree matures at 12 to 20 feet in stature and 12 to 20 feet in width in the urban landscape painting . In the natural state , the tree diagram may grow 25 to 30 feet tall with a like spread . At full maturity date , the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree is typically spacious than it is tall with a spreading , often irregularly shaped crown that is pretty heart-to-heart in appearance . The crown is generally supported by multiple short trunk stuffy to the ground , which gift the plant life a shrub - comparable appearance .
Its appeal lies in its generous clusters of fragrant , fringe bloodless blossom , which seem in late outpouring after other leap - blossom tree have finished blooming . The fringetree is dioecian , meaning manful and female flowers occur on different plants . The male flowers tend to be showy than distaff heyday , but both are lovely . Each blossom is comprised of four long , narrow-minded flower petal and occurs in drooping , 4 to 8 - column inch prospicient clump at the ends of the branch . When in full bloom , the touchy , airy - looking blossoms give the tree diagram a cloud - like show . The flowers give off a ticklish , honeyed , juicy fragrance , making the plant all the more endearing in the outpouring landscape .
The narrow , elliptic 3 to 8 - inch foresighted leaves are medium to dark green with a waxy appearance . The leaves tend to come out very late in leap after the flowers bloom and reverse a dull yellowness in fall . The wan gray or brown bark is fluid on youthful branches but becomes ridge and furrowed as the trunks and branches age .
In late summer , the females bear yield in clump of grapevine - sizing , dark disconsolate , sarcoid drupe resembling olives . This is understandable , considering that olive trees are members of the same genus . The fruits are favor by birds , such as dispirited jay , cardinals , mockingbirds and barbaric turkey .
CULTIVARS AND RELATED SPECIES
While the straight species is the primary mannikin available commercially , a few cultivar are also uncommitted , include :
A related species that is aboriginal to eastern Asia also spring up in this country . Chionanthus retusus , or Taiwanese fringetree , was Introduced here in 1845 . It looks very similar to our aboriginal species but is less hardy ( USDA zones 6 to 8) . By comparison , our native specie tends to have a more undefendable canopy whereas the Chinese species is denser in appearing . The Chinese species is a little larger ( 15 to 25 feet tall ) than our native species but the leaves and peak cluster are smaller . Both specie blossom at about the same fourth dimension in late spring .
ethnic essential
Fringetree is very versatile and adaptable to a across-the-board mountain range of soils and light atmospheric condition . It grows well in full Sunday but does better if given a niggling filtered shade as respite from hot summertime Sunday . Although it prefers bass , acidulent , moist , well - drained soil , it is fairly adaptable to dry soils .
Once it is established , fringetree requires small , if any , maintenance . If any pruning is needed , prune immediately after it flush to allow the branches sufficient time to arise next twelvemonth ’s flower buds . The shrub - like course can be shaped into a minuscule tree diagram form by pruning the lower limbs and foliage aside .
Fringetree is comparatively trouble gratuitous . It may occasionally be bothered by scales , touch , or borers if grown in a dry site . There is some business organisation that it may be attacked by the Emerald Ash stone drill , since the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree is relate to the ash tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
LANDSCAPE VALUE
Fringetree is an enchanting asset to the previous spring landscape painting when it displays its wallow masses of fragrant white blossoms . It is in particular effective when planted in front of an evergreen scope . employ it :
Although fringetree is dumb to leaf out in the spring , the patient gardener will be rewarded with a shimmering presentation of exotic blossoms certain to make the neighbors fleeceable with enviousness .
SOURCES :
A Natural story of Trees of the Eastern and Central North America(Peattie , Donald Culross , 1948 , copyright renew 1977 )
land Nature Home(Tallamy , Douglas W. , 2007 )
Manual of Woody Landscape Plants , Their recognition , Ornamental Characteristics , Culture , Propagation and Uses , ( Dirr , Michael A. , 1975 , Revised 2009 )
aboriginal Plants of the Southeast(Mellichamp , Larry , 2014 )
“ Chionanthus virginicus , ” University of Connecticut College of Agriculture , Health and Natural Resources Plant Database ( hort.uconn.edu )
“ Chionanthus Virginicus Fact Sheet , ” Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation ( dendro.cnre.vt.edu )
“ Fringetree , ” Clemson Cooperative Extension Home and Garden Information Center ( clemson.edu/extension )
South Carolina Wildlife Federation ( scwf.org/native-plant-list )
“ The Fringe Tree and Its Far - Flung Cousins , ” by Rob Nicholson , The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University ( arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu ) .
“ White Fringe Tree , ” Yale University site ( naturewalk.yale.edu/trees )
“ White Fringetree , honest-to-god - man ’s Beard , ” Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 3010 - 1499White Fringetree .
