Fringe

Fringe

(Chionanthus Virginicus) The primary attraction of this 15-30 ft., deciduous tree or shrub is the drooping clusters of fragrant, white blossoms. Dark-blue, grape-like clusters of fruits are produced from female blossoms. The numerous delicate, fragrant, white-to-greenish-white flowers are composed of 4–6 strap-shaped petals 1 inch long by 1/16 inch wide. They hang in showy, branched clusters 4–6 inches long. Flowers open before or with the first leaves. Other features are dark-green, glossy foliage and a pale-gray trunk with bands of white. Leaves are deciduous, opposite, 4–8 inches long and 1/4 inch wide; the petiole is 1 inch long. Fall color is usually not significant. Shrub or small tree with short trunk, narrow, oblong crown, and showy masses of fragrant, lacy, white flowers.

Leaf: Opposite or sometimes partially opposite, simple, ovate to elliptical, 4 to 8 inches long, pinnately-veined in shape with an entire margin, somewhat thickened, green above and paler below.

Flower: Species is dioecious or polygamo-dioecious; very showy, 1 inch long with a 4-lobed, white corolla, very fragrant, with many hanging from a long, 4 to 8 inch stalk (resemble a long white beard); appear in late spring.

Fruit: Ovoid drupe, 3/4 inch long, dark blue to nearly black with a fleshy pulp that encloses a large, stone seed, ripen in late summer.

Twig: Moderately stout, ashy-gray in color, smooth or downy, with scatterd warty lenticels; large, brown, broadly conical terminal bud; leaf scar with one bundle scar.

Bark: Dark gray-brown in color, becoming somewhat furrowed with reddish scales.

Form: A small tree or a large suckering shrub reaching up to 25 feet tall with opposite branches, a short trunk and a narrow, oblong crown.

Range: Fringe tree is found from eastern Texas and southern Missouri eastward to the Atlantic Coast and north to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Growing Conditions: Trees grow in moist wooded areas, swamp borders, rocky bluffs, streams and outcroppings. In Kentucky, trees occur infrequently in dry to mesic forests in the Appalachian Plateaus and Interior Low Plateaus provinces

Wildlife value: Fringe tree fruits are among the favorite foods of wild turkeys, blue jays, cardinals and mockingbirds. White-tailed deer and other animals browse the foliage.

Timber Value: the tree it is of no commercial value as a source of lumber.

Damaging Agents: Scale can be controlled with horticultural oil sprays. Mites are pests in full sun locations. A borer is the most serious insect pest. Borers are more likely to attack trees that are already stressed or have wounds.

Lifespan: The Virginicus has a short life span relative to most other plant species and a slow growth rate. At maturity, the typical White Fringetree (Virginicus) will reach up to 25 feet high, with a maximum height at 20 years of 20 feet



Links:

http://haufc.org/tree-guide/small/fringe-tree/

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=27

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CHVI3

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/trees/hgic1027.html

http://bernheim.org/explore/arboretum/bernheim-select/fringe-tree/