Chionanthus retusus
Chinese Fringetree
Oleaceae
ExpandHabitat
- native to China, Korea, and Japan
- hardy to zone 6, and warmer parts of 5
Habit and Form
- a small deciduous tree or large shrub
- 15' to 25' tall
- rounded wide-spreading form
- medium texture
- medium growth rate
Summer Foliage
- opposite leaf arrangement
- simple, deciduous leaves
- leaf shape is variable
- obovate leaf shape, in the north
- up to 8" long
- leaf margin can be entire or serrated
- dark green leaf color
- thick, leathery texture
Autumn Foliage
- yellow-green fall color
Flowers
- pure white flowers
- blooms in June
- flowers are clustered in 3" long panicles
- flowers borne at terminal stem tips
Fruit
- oblong, dark blue drupe
- 0.5" long
- ripens in September
- only occurs on female plant
Bark
- gray-brown bark
- lenticels
Culture
- full sun to partial shade
- prefers moist, deep, acidic soils that are well-drained
- fairly adaptable
- possibly difficult to transplant
- requires little maintenance once established
Landscape Use
- specimen
- naturalistic plantings
- shrub border
- for flowering
- fruits to attract birds
- in groupings
- urban sites due to pollution tolerance
Liabilities
- propagation is difficult so plant is expensive or hard to locate in commerce
- most plants are seed propagated so the plant sex is generally unknown for purchased plant
- slow growing
ID Features
- stem is square
- late to leaf out in Spring
- white fringe-like flowers clustered in long panicles
- females with blue "olive-like" fruit
- multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree
Propagation
- by seed
Cultivars/Varieties
- none