Fam. Lythraceae
Species: Lagerstroemia indica L.
Common name: St. Bartholomew's tree
Deutsch: Indische Lagerstromie
English: Crape myrtle
Etymology: The genus name is dedicated to Magnus von Lagerström, director of the Swedish East India Company, plant collector and friend of Linnaeus. The species name recalls the Latin adjective of India, even though the plant is native to eastern Asia.
Habitat: native to China, Korea and Japan, introduced to Europe in the 18th century
Description: shrubby plant, 3-7 m tall, fast growing, with rounded crown and smooth trunk. The bark is light brown with reddish brown plates.
The leaves are leathery, entire, glossy green, elliptical, with a very small petiole and provided with short bristles on the central rib of the lower page. In autumn they turn from yellow to bright red.
The flowers, gathered in panicles up to 20 cm long, are very showy and bright pink-purple with petals with wavy and fringed edges, abruptly narrowed at the base. The yellow anthers stand out against the deep pink of the petals.
The fruit is a globose capsule, containing numerous winged seeds of about 8 mm.
Notes and Curiosities: Lagerstroemia in Europe is used only for ornamental purposes, but in its countries of origin they also have economic importance: it is used, in addition to carpenters, also for the construction of houses, bridges and railway sleepers.
It prefers a sunny position. The first flowers usually open towards the end of August: hence the common name of St. Bartholomew's tree. A singular aspect of the flower is the presence of two types of stamens: a first set with stamens with yellow anthers and short filaments, very numerous and crowded together; a second set with very long filaments, dark anthers and six in number, like the symmetry of the flower.
It is a pleasant plant even when bare, in winter; the bark flakes off in thin and irregular ivory-colored plates so as to be very ornamental due to its smooth wood.
In the Heller garden prefers a sunny position and its shrub shape with numerous open and twisted branches starting from the ground is appreciated. The showy terminal panicle inflorescences, the quadrangular section branches and the smooth and thin bark allow for easy identification.