''Chionanthus virginicus'' (white fringetree) is a tree native to the savannas and lowlands of the southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

south to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, and west to Oklahoma and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

.USDA Woody Plant Seed Manual
''Chionanthus virginicus'' (pdf file)

Growth

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 leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

shrub or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to as much as tall, though ordinarily less. The

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, en ...

is scaly, brown tinged with red. The

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the sp ...

s are light green, downy at first, later becoming light brown or orange. The buds are light brown, ovate, acute, long. The leaves are opposite, simple, ovate or oblong, long and broad, with a petiole long, and an entire margin; they are hairless above, and finely downy below, particularly along the veins, and turn yellow in fall. The richly-scented

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s have a pure white, deeply four-lobed

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

, the lobes thread-like, long and broad; they are produced in drooping axillary

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is ...

s long when the leaves are half grown, in mid- to late May in New York City, earlier in the south. It is usually

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

, though occasional plants bear flowers of both sexes. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is an ovoid dark blue to purple

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kerne ...

long, containing a single

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

(rarely two or three), mature in late summer to mid fall.Missouriplants
''Chionanthus virginicus''
/ref>Oklahoma Biological Survey

Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .

Etymology

The species name was originally cited by Linnaeus as ''Chionanthus virginica'', treating the genus as feminine; however, under the provisions of the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

, the genus is correctly treated as masculine, giving the species ending as ''virginicus''.Germplasm Resources Information Network
''Chionanthus''
Other English names occasionally used in the Appalachians include Grancy Gray Beard and Old Man's Beard.

Cultivation and uses

Although native in the southeastern United States, it is hardy in the north and is extensively planted in gardens, where specimens are often grown with multiple trunks. The white flowers are best seen from below. Fall color is a fine, clear yellow, a good contrast with

viburnum ''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. The mem ...

s and evergreens. It prefers a moist soil and a sheltered situation. It may be propagated by

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...

on Ash (''Fraxinus'' sp.). The

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

is light brown,

sapwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

paler brown; heavy, hard, and close-

grained Graining is the practice of imitating wood grain on a non-wood surface, or on relatively undesirable wood surface, in order to give it the appearance of a rare or higher quality wood, thereby increase that surface's aesthetic appeal. Graining was ...

Traditional uses

The dried roots and bark were used by Native Americans to treat skin inflammations. The crushed bark was used in treatment of sores and wounds.Plants for a Future
''Chionanthus virginicus''
/ref>

Threats

In 2014, white fringetrees in Ohio were reported to be hosting infestations of the

emerald ash borer The emerald ash borer (''Agrilus planipennis''), also known by the acronym EAB, is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species. Females lay eggs in bark crevices on ash trees, and larvae feed underne ...

, an insect native to Asia that has become a highly destructive invasive pest of

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...

s in North America. Since then, emerald ash borer has been found in white fringetrees in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, indicating to researchers that white fringetrees are being utilized by emerald ash borers throughout the range where the species overlap. Symptoms of infestation include crown dieback and epicormic sprouting.Peterson, Donnie L., and Don Cipollini
Distribution, Predictors, and Impacts of Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Infestation of White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)
''Environmental Entomology,'' Volume 46, Issue 1, 1 February 2017, Pages 50–57, https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvw148

References

Image:Chionanthus virginicus USDA0.jpg, Shrub in flower Image:ChionanthusVirginicus.jpg, Image:Chionanthus virginicus - New York Botanical Garden - 2.jpg, Flowers Image:Chionanthus virginicus - Norfolk Botanical Garden.jpg {{Taxonbar, from=Q140341 virginicus Trees of the Eastern United States Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Trees of the Southeastern United States Ornamental trees Dioecious plants Trees of the Northeastern United States Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus