Chionanthus virginicus

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Chionanthus virginicus
Shrub in flower
Shrub in flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Chionanthus
Species: C. virginicus
Binomial name
Chionanthus virginicus
L.

Chionanthus virginicus (Grancy Gray Beard, Old man's beard, White Fringetree; syn. C. virginica L.) is a tree native to the Eastern portion of the United States, which is used both as a medicinal and ornamental plant.

File:Fringe Tree Chionanthus virginicus Leaves 2000px.jpg
Leaves

Description

A slender tree twenty or thirty feet high; at the north a shrub of several thick, spreading stems. Commonly planted on lawns and parks. Ornamental. Roots are fibrous.[1]

The singular appearance of its snow white flowers which look like a fringe is the source of its common name. These flowers appear abundantly when the leaves are half grown and the foliage mass becomes a combination of soft green and pure white, which is most beautiful.[1]

  • Bark: Brown, tinged with red, scaly. Branchlets terete, light green, downy, at first; later they become light brown or orange color.
  • Wood: Light brown, sapwood paler brown; heavy, hard, close-grained.
  • Winter buds: Light brown, ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch long. Outer scales fall when spring growth begins, inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and become leaf-like, an inch or more in length.
  • Leaves: Opposite, simple, ovate or oblong, four to eight inches long, one to four inches broad, wedge-shaped at base, entire with undulate margins, acuminate, acute or rounded at apex. Feather-veined, midrib stout, primary veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud conduplicate, yellow green and shining above, downy beneath; when full grown are dark green above, pale below and smooth except the midrib and veins which are hairy. In autumn they turn a clear yellow and fall early. Petiole stout, hairy.
  • Flowers: May, June; when leaves are one-third grown. Perfect, white, slightly fragrant, borne in loose, downy, drooping, bracted panicles, four to six inches long, from lateral buds; peduncles three-flowered.
  • Calyx: Four-parted, small, smooth, persistent.
  • Corolla: An inch long, white, dotted on inner surface with purple spots, deeply divided into four, varying to five and six, long and narrow lobes barely united at base; conduplicate, valvate in bud.
  • Stamens: Two, inserted on the base of the corolla, extrorse, filaments short; anthers pale yellow, ovate, two-celled.
  • Pistil: Ovary superior, two-celled; style short; stigma fleshy, two-lobed.
  • Fruit: Drupe, borne in loose clusters, on which the bracts have become leaf-like. Oval or oblong, dark blue, glaucous, one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx and tipped with remnants of the style. Skin thick; flesh dry; stone thin.[1]

Distribution

Ranges from Pennsylvania to Florida, westward through the Gulf states to Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas.[1]

Cultivation

The Fringe-tree is one of the most beautiful of the ornamental shrubs of the United States and although a native of the south it is hardy at the north and is extensively planted. It prefers a moist soil and a sheltered situation and may be propagated by grafting on the ash.[1]

Medicinal uses

Chionanthus virginicus has a few medicinal uses. The dried roots and bark are used to treat skin inflammations. It can also be employed for all liver problems. Also used in gall-bladder inflammations. Reduces surger levels in urine. The crushed bark can be used in treatment of sores and wonds.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scriber's Sons. pp. 222–224.

External links

Template:Lamiales-stub Template:Tree-stub

da:Amerikansk Sneflokketræ