Crape Myrtles…few things speak “southern living” more than crape myrtles to my eye. Well…gardenias and magnolias, do, of course! But, we’ll get to them in a later post. Right now, the streets of St. Pete are a riot of magenta, pink, and white with these trees almost everywhere. Because the shape of a crape myrtle is like a narrow ice cream cone, point down, it works well along streets, bordering properties, centered down the medians of boulevards, and outlining driveways (I had that at a home, once…very stately, driving in).
Visit Florida Data’s Lagerstroemia indica (crape myrtle) site. As it always does, it provides detailed, authoritative information about this tree and its many varieties such as the “dwarf crape myrtle.” There is a bit of confusion: is it “crape myrtle” or “crepe myrtle”? I appreciate that the author of this academic site is capable of humor (academia and humor don’t usually appear in the same context). The author, Steve Christman, says”
“The common name of this plant is crape myrtle not crepe myrtle. It is called this because the flowers have crinkly petals that resemble the material called crepe (which according to Webster is a “light crinkled fabric woven of any of various fibers”) but many references tell us that you’re supposed to spell it crape when it’s in front of myrtle. Confused? I think somebody was full of crape when they came up with this name! At any rate, it’s a common name and since there’s no authority that manages common names for plants you can spell (or call it) whatever you like!”
Like many other trees found in Florida, such as the banyan tree and kapok tree (see It’s not all palm trees and The Kapok Tree), the crape myrtle is originally from Asia. However, it doesn’t seem to be listed as an invasive species. Indeed some USA plants, such as the bottle gourd, have their roots in Asia 10,000 years ago. I would think, by now, that 10,000 years qualifies as “grandfathered in.”
You can easily identify crape myrtle amidst the profusion of other purple and pink flowering trees around town (see Orchid Tree, Jacaranda, Royal Poinciana, and Tamarind, More flowering trees, and Spring!). Look for their trucks of multiple, spindly branches. It almost looks like a large bush, but Florida Data refers to it as a tree. Look at this Yahoo! Answers page for comments by some biology professors in response to the question: “What is the difference between a bush and a tree?” It’s clear there’s no definitive answer.
Speaking of answers to questions: in an earlier post on Orchid Tree, Jacaranda, Royal Poinciana, and Tamarind, I showed a picture of a tree that I wondered aloud might not be a tamarind tree. I didn’t want to become a pest with the local Pinellas County Extension Service whose Mr. Andy Wilson kindly cleared up the identification of the orchid tree. But, I finally wrote him about what I thought might have been a tamarind tree. It’s not! It is currently covered with yellow pod-like structures. See the pictures immediately above (full tree) and below (close-up). According to Mr. Wilson it is a yellow poinciana, Peltophorum pterocarpum. I’m glad that mystery is solved. This spectacular tree is located at the end of the parking lot of the St. Petersburg Sunshine Center by Mirror Lake. On the end opposite of that parking lot is the massive banyan tree covered in It’s not all palm trees. If you’re in town, it’s worth an excursion to go see these two trees. For sure, look around at all the crape myrtles. They’re everywhere you look and in bloom.
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