Scientific Name : Lagerstroemia indica L.
Common Name : Common Crape Myrtle, Crape Myrtle
Chinese Name : 紫薇
Family : LYTHRACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origins | From Northeastern India to South China, also Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam. |
|---|---|
| Vitality | Common Crape Myrtle is well tolerant of arid soil and prefers fertile, moist, calcium-containing or acidic soils. |
| Application |
Common Crape Myrtle is an ideal ornamental tree attributed to its wonderful blossoms. During the flowering seasons, its crown is festooned by delicate purple or pink blossoms. Planting the tree in solitary or aligning it in a row can inevitably immerse the city into an alternative aura of vitality and create a unique and picturesque urban landscape. The tree also serves versatile medicinal functions. In its native range, the roots are always used for expelling heat and promoting diuresis. The leaves can be processed into purgatives or treat heat-toxin, hemorrhage and attenuate dampness. Moreover, its wood is hard and rot-resistant, thereby rendering its popularity to furniture making. |
| Meanings of name | The generic name Lagerstroemia commemorates Magnus von Lagerstroem (1696-1759) a Swedish amateur botanist. The species epithet indica means from India. |
| Lagerstroemia |
Lagerstroemia is a genus of extremely graceful flowering plants. In Hong Kong, L. speciosa (Queen Crape Myrtle) and Common Crape Myrtle are the most dominant in parks and streets. They can be distinguishable from their vegetative sizes, with Queen Crape Myrtle showing notably larger leaves and tree sizes. Common Crape Myrtle is noted with versatile floral colours, ranging from red to purple. Which blossoms in white is a cultivar of Common Crape Myrtle, named as L. indica ‘Alba’. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous shrub or small tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 7 m tall. |
| Stem | Bark smooth, yellowish brown. Branchlets slender, angular or narrowly winged, glabrescent. |
| Leaves | Simple leaves alternate to subopposite, sessile or with very short petioles. Blade chartaceous to coriaceous, elliptic, broadly oblong or obovate, base broadly cuneate or suborbicular, apex acute or obtuse, sometimes emarginate, glabrous or puberulent along veins abaxially. |
| Flowers | Panicles terminal, puberulous, dense-flowered. Flowers hermaphroditic, synsepalous, with hypanthium, petals clawed, wrinkled, purple or pink, stamens many, dimorphic, with outer 6 much longer than others. |
| Fruits | Capsules purple-black, ellipsoidal, loculicidal. Seed winged. |
| Flowering period | June to August in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | July to October in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website :
https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=3428
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Lagerstroemia indica Linnaeus
― Plant of the World Online : Lagerstroemia indica L.