''Chionanthus retusus'', the Chinese fringetree, is a flowering plant in the family

Oleaceae Oleaceae, also known as the olive family or sometimes the lilac family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Gree ...

. It is native to eastern Asia: eastern and central China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or small to medium-sized tree growing to in height, with thick, fissured bark. The leaves are long and broad, simple ovate to oblong-elliptic, with a hairy, long petiole. The flowers are white, produced in panicles long. The fruit is a blue-black drupe long and in diameter. It is cultivated in Europe and North America as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

, valued for its feathery white flowerheads.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . In

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

near Inuyama there is a grove of seven mature ''Chionanthus retusus'' renowned for their yearly white blooms. They were designated by the authorities as a natural monument since 1923."White Splendor"
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Gallery

Image:Chionanthus retusus2.jpg, Foliage and fruit Image:Chionanthus retusus1.jpg, Bark Image:Chionanthus retusus - Chinese Fringetree - 9.jpg, Flowers File:流蘇樹 Chionanthus retusus 20211021093707 04.jpg, Habitat:waterside and bark, Taiwan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1073191 retusus Ornamental trees Trees of China Trees of Japan Trees of Korea Trees of Taiwan Plants described in 1852 Tsushima, Nagasaki