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Botanical Name: Lagerstroemia sp. Pink-flowered Form
Common Name: Pink Crapemyrtle
Origin: Southeast Asia
Location: KS
Notable Feature: Crapemyrtle ranks among the longest blooming trees with flowering periods lasting from 60 to 120 days; it blooms during the hottest part of summer and adds beauty at a time of year when most trees are not in bloom.
Habit: A small, vase-shaped, deciduous, multistemmed tree reaching 6 to 15 feet high and about as wide. Its attractive tan bark exfoliates when young revealing a smooth, pale creamy inner bark which is most prominent in the winter landscape.
Flower: Showy clusters of 6 to 10-inch long, pink flowers with crimped petals (appearing as if made of crepe paper) bloom in summer at the ends of upright branches. Flowers are perfect (bisexual).
Fruit: The fruit is a 6-chambered, brown capsule occurring in popcorn-like clusters in upright spikes. Each capsule is ½” long and persists through the winter; it contains many small, winged seeds.
Foliage: Thick and leathery, elliptical leaves (to 3" long) emerge light green often with a tinge of red, mature to dark green by summer, and finally turn attractive shades of yellow-orange-red in fall.
Interesting Fact: An additional common name is “Lilac of the South” in reference to its overwhelming popularity in southern gardens.