Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City, USA

Common name: Crapemyrtle

Family: Lythraceae (Loosestrife family)

Distribution: Asia

IUCN Red list: Not evaluated

Hardiness: 4a

Life form: Deciduous shrub/sub-shrub

Comments: This is an upright, wide-spreading, multi-stemmed deciduous shrub or small tree. Key ornamental features include long bloom period, exfoliating bark and superb fall color. Terminal, crepe-papery inflorescences of showy violet flowers with crimped petals bloom in the summer (sometimes to frost). Leaves typically emerge light green often with a tinge of red, mature to a dark green by summer and finally turn attractive shades of yellow-orange-red in the fall. Flowers will give way to round seed capsules which often persist well into winter.'Violet Filli' is a dwarf variety with violet blooms growing 1 to 1 and a half feet tall and wide.