THE CRAPE MYRTLE 



By Mrs. Georgia Torrey Drennan. 



"V4"0BILE, New Orleans, Galveston and all other Southern 

 •** seaboard cities are in gala attire from July till Novem- 



ber, for the crape myrtles {Lager stoemia Indica) are in bloom. 

 They are of three kinds, pink, white and red, but when general 

 reference is made to the crape myrtle, the pink is meant. It is 

 the most beautiful and profuse of all the three colors. The 

 shade of pink is that of the heart of a ripe watermelon, and the 

 texture of the flower is so fine that the tree when in full bloom 

 seems to be hovering under a pink sunset cloud. 



To read the description given in botanies, "petals 6, very 

 wavy-crinkled, raised on slender claws borne on the throat of 

 the calyx," one would never form an idea of the unique and 

 curiously constructed flower. The buds are like hard, 

 dark green balls. They form on the terminals of 

 every branch in elongated clusters of twenty or more. The 

 thick, leathery calyx is five pointed and closely clasped to- 

 gether. First, the points of the calyx snap open and turn 

 back; then, from each one, five slender pink threads project, 

 tender and light as thistle down; at the end of each thread is 

 a petal — a delicate, tissue-like crinkled bit of pink, tremulous 

 and light. There are twenty or more flowers ranged along the 

 stem, which may be ten inches long, and proportionately full. 

 One might infer the flower to be of brief duration, each petal 

 swinging on a thread so slender. Such is not the case, for the 

 blooms last long and are slow to shatter or fade. 



