Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Scrophulariales>Oleaceae>Chionanthus virginicus L.
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Fringetree, or old-man's-beard, is farily common understory small tree or large shrub, found in a variety of habitats. In mid-April to early May trees in sunnier sites put on a fantastic display of fringey white flowers. Fringetree is easy to recognize in leaf, too, since it's our only tree with large, entire, opposite leaves. Chapel Hill, NC 4/19/2002. |
| The masses of white flowers hang down like an old man's beard. Chapel Hill, NC 4/24/2002. |
| This spectacular specimen, the largest I've seen, is at the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, NC, photographed 4/24/2002. This tree lost much of its crown in the severe ice storm of December 2002. |
| Bark of a small tree. |
| Bark of a large tree (the NC Botanical Garden one). |
More information:
NC State
Trees of Alabama and the Southeast
UCONN
Virginia Tech Dendrology
Revised 10/18/05 cwcook@duke.edu
All photographs and text ©2005 by Will Cook unless otherwise indicated.