Lagerstroemia Indica

Crape myrtle is the smaller cousin of Queen Crape Myrtle. It is an often multi-stemmed, deciduous tree with a wide spreading, flat topped, rounded, or even spike shaped open habit. Planted in full sun or under canopy, the tree is a popular nesting shrub for songbirds and wrens. The bark is a prominent feature being smooth, pinkish-gray and mottled, shedding each year. In colder areas, the leaves also shed each winter, after spectacular color display, and bare branches re-leaf early in the spring; leaves are small, smooth-edged, circular or oval-shaped, and dark green changing to yellow and orange and red in autumn. Flowers, on different trees, are white, pink, mauve, purple or carmine with crimped petals, in panicles up to 9 cm. Capsules are ellipsoidal, 1-1.3 × 0.7-1.2 cm, 4-6-valved. Seeds including wing about 8 mm. Common Crape Myrtle is found in the Himalayas amd Indo-China, China, at altitudes of 1000-1500 m. It is also widely cultivated. Flowering: June-September.