Lagerstroemia indica Seeds | Crape Myrtle
LATIN NAME: Lagerstroemia indica
COMMON NAME: Crape Myrtle
Plant Profile
Among the ornamental and useful plants raised from seed, Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) stands out as a tree. Crape myrtle is long-flowering, smooth-barked tree of warm gardens, and it has been a familiar of summer streets of south for a very long time. Show goes on for months, and autumn brings a fine change of leaf colour. It is a tough, adaptable tree that takes well to light pruning and the shaping. Add these qualities together and you have a species well worth a place in the garden.
Science & Biotechnology
Lagerstroemia indica sits in the Lagerstroemia group, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Horticulturists have worked on crape myrtle for a long time, and many named varieties in nurseries come from a long programme of breeding and the selection. For researchers, plants like this one offer practical material for propagation studies and selection work.
Uses & Benefits
Beyond its ornamental appeal, Crape Myrtle has the practical versatility that makes a plant worth growing from seed year after year. It is valued for its very long summer flowering, its neat, smooth trunk and its tolerance of heat and dry spells, and it is a mainstay of town planting and home garden alike. Flowers pull in bees and butterflies, and seed heads give a fine winter look. It has been written up in horticultural papers for its toughness and its long bloom, and a mature tree in full flower is a fine, generous sight. After the first season it asks for very little beyond a place that suits it.
Crape myrtle is the summer flowering tree of the South; in the Philippines its leaf tea, banaba, is a folk remedy for blood sugar, and its corosolic acid is widely studied and sold as a supplement.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Crape Myrtle under ordinary good conditions. Sow the seeds evenly over the surface and cover lightly in a loose, well-drained seed compost, keep the sowing evenly moist, and give the pot or tray bright light. Pot the young plants on as they grow, harden them off gradually, and plant them into their final positions when sturdy.
Our Take
Among the Lagerstroemia group, it is one of the more distinctive species in cultivation. Once established, Crape Myrtle largely looks after itself. In a sunny, freely drained position it needs little looking after.
Related Reading
If Crape Myrtle appeals to you, these related plants are worth a look: