What is "lagerstroemia indica"

crape myrtle \crape myrtle\ n. an tall East Indian and Chinese shrub ( Lagerstroemia indica of the loosestrife family, commonly planted in Southern and Western U. S. as an ornamental shrub. It has clusters of red, white, purple, or pink flowers.

Syn: crepe myrtle, crepe flower, Lagerstroemia indic

Lagerstroemia indica ( crape myrtle, crepe myrtle, crepeflower) is a species in the genus Lagerstroemia in the family Lythraceae.

From China, Korea, Japan and Indian Subcontinent Lagerstroemia indica 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. 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 .

Lagerstroemia indica is frost tolerant, prefers full sun and will grow to with a spread of .

Many hybrid cultivars have been developed between L. indica and L. faueri