The crape myrtle is a large bush or small tree of Chinese origin used as an ornamental. It has sinewy-looking fluted stems whose bark peels off; each year the parts peel off between those that peeled off last year, or where squirrels scratch it, giving a patchy appearance. The flowers have six or seven crinkly-edged petals on stalks, sticking out between the sepals, which are simple triangular points. The flowers occur in long (8-12 inch) spike-like clusters, and, depending on cultivar, they can be white, pink red, purple or lavender occurring , blooming from mid to late summer. The fruit is a capsule, green at first, then ripening to black, which opens along six or seven lines, producing teeth much like those of the calyx, and releasing twelve or fourteen small winged seeds.
L. indica, the common crape myrtle, was introduced by French botanist Andre Michaux ca. 1790 in Charleston, South Carolina, where it is today a very common ornamental shrub or small tree.
L. speciosa, the giant crape myrtle from tropical India, is a taller tree, which is established only in the warmest parts of the US, such as south Florida and Hawaii.
