LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY (LYTHRACEAE) 

 178. Reina de las flores, queen-of-flowers Lagerstroemia speciosa (L.) Pers.* 



Planted for its numerous showy purple flowers, 

 this exotic tree is identified by: (1) the large, 

 loosely branched, terminal clustere 6-18 inches 

 long bearing many beautiful lavender or pui-ple 

 (or on some trees pink) flowers 2-21A inches across, 

 with 6 rounded, crinkled and wavy-margined, 

 spreading petals; (2) the gray-brown romided 

 seed capsules %-li/4 inches in diameter, splitting 

 into 6 parts and shedding many brown winged 

 seeds V2-% inch long; and (3) the large elliptic 

 leaves abruptly short-pointed at apex and short- 

 pointed at base, opposite or alternate, appearing to 

 be in 2 rows on the long, spreading twigs. 



A small cultivated tree 15-30 feet high, with 

 trunk to 8 inches in diameter, or larger, and with 

 rounded or widely spreading dense crown. Decid- 

 uous only in dry climates. The bark is gray or 

 light brown, smooth ish to slightly fissured and 

 scaly. Inner bark is light brown and bitter to the 

 taste. 



Leaves appear in 2 rows on the light green twigs 

 as a result of bending of the short petioles 1/8-% 

 inch long. Leaf blades are 5-12 inches long and 

 2V2-5 inches broad, not toothed on edges, slightly 

 thickened, green on upper surface and paler 

 beneath. 



Flower clusters (panicles) have stout, finely 

 hairy branches, with individual flower stalks 

 Vi-Vz inch long. The vei'y showy flowere have a 

 light green, cup-shaped. i2-ridged base (hypan- 

 thium) % inch high and nearly i/^ inch broad, 

 minutely hairy, bearing 6 light green, pointed, 

 thickened, finely hairy sepals %e inch long and 

 widely spreading, 6 stalked nearly round petals 

 11/1 inches long, and numerous purplish stamens 

 about % inch long. The pistil consists of a 6-celled 

 ovai-y 3/jg inch in diameter, a slender purplish style 

 about 1 inch long, becoming curved, and small 

 rounded green stigma. 



The seed capsules are nearly round or elliptic, 

 with dried hypanthium and sepals attached at 

 base. The many seeds, about 39,000 to a pound, 

 have a long, mostly narrow wing. Flowering 

 from May through October, the fruit maturing 

 from winter to summer. 



The light brown sapwood is hard. An impor- 

 tant large timber tree in India, where the wood is 

 preferred for small boats, shipbuilding, and pil- 

 ing. In Puerto Rico the tree is grown in the open 

 i:)rimarily for ornament and seldom produces a 

 straight stem. 



Occasionally planted for ornament and shade, 

 such as a street tree and in gardens, in Puerto Rico 

 and the Virgin Islands and sometimes escaping 

 from cultivation. Commonly purplish flowered, 

 but a variation with pinkish flowers is also grown. 



Range. — Native from India to southern China, 

 Malay Peninsula, Philippines, East Indies, and 

 northern Australia. Planted as an ornamental 

 flowering tre« and escaping in many tropical lands. 

 Grown in southern Florida and West Indies 

 from Cuba and Jamaica (naturalized) to Puerto 

 Rico and Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, 

 and Trinidad and from Mexico to South America. 



Other common names. — tree crapemyrtle (Vir- 

 gin Islands) ; astromelia, flor de la reina (Ven- 

 ezuela) ; queen-of-flowers, queen-flower, pride-of- 

 India, queen crapemyrtle (English) ; king-of- 

 flowers (British Guiana) ; pyinma (commerce). 



Botanical synonym. — Lagerstroemia flos- 

 reginae Retz. 



Astromelia or common crapemyrtle {Lager- 

 stroemta indica L.*), a related shrub or small tree 

 from Asia, is a popular ornamental. It has small 

 elliptic leaves 1-2 inches long and showy masses of 

 pink, white, or purple flowers less than li/^ inches 

 across. 



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