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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14090855/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Crape Myrtles 1
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. A few years ago, I bought a house with a name. It had a beautiful carved sign hanging from a tree that proclaimed the property as 'Crepe Myrtle Hill'. We had an abundance of crape myrtles. The only trouble was the word 'crepe' on the sign was spelled C-R-E-P-E and this small landscape tree's name is spelled C-R-A-P-E. It bothered me, so I looked for the origins of these two words. Both come from the Latin word Crispus, meaning crisp or crinkled. The French adopted the Latin word and a few centuries ago dropped the 's' to come up with their word 'crepe', C-R-E-P-E. The British adopted the French word, but spelled it phonetically, so that it would sound as if it with an ‘a’,changing the first 'e' to an 'a'. The word 'crape' in the name 'crape myrtle' refers to the crisp, crinkled appearance of the petals. Take a close look at an individual crape myrtle flower: each usually has six petals, and each petal has a narrow base like a stalk, endowing the blossoms with an intricate beauty. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Crape Myrtles 2
Length of Segment: 00:01:14
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Those crape myrtle trees that line our streets and add summer color to manicured landscapes are abundant across the southern United States. They're also found in warm climates around the world. The popularity of crape myrtle stems from the profusion of flowers this small tree produces from early summer well into fall. Dozens of cultivated varieties produce blooms that are white, various shades of pink, and purple. Crape myrtle has been used in landscaping for over three centuries and has been in North America for more than 150 years. In the mid-1700s, the Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerstroem sent specimens of crape myrtle to the Swedish botanist we know today as Linnaeus. Linnaeus gave the tree its scientific name, Lagerstroemia indica, honoring his friend and India, the country from which the specimen had come. But crape myrtle is not native to India, it's native to southern China and can be seen in many early Chinese paintings. In many parts of the world this tree is best known as ‘lagerstroemia’. The name 'crape myrtle' seems to be American. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Crape Myrtles 3
Length of Segment: 00:01:13
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The crape myrtle is often thought of as a shrub and, indeed, it was officially designated by the state of Texas as the 'Texas State Shrub,' even though it's an exotic plant that's native to China. For many colonists in the southeast, the crape myrtle was a southern replacement for lilacs, which don't do well in the region. But given time, crape myrtle can grow to a tree 40 feet in height. Some are known to have lived for 200 years. Whatever its size or age, crape myrtle has smooth, thin bark that peels as if from a recent sunburn. As the tan bark of crape myrtle peels in spring, new bark revealed is somewhat modeled, ranging from tan to cinnamon or orange. By fall, bark colors again have faded to tan. Young crape myrtles typically develop multiple stems and these are sometimes pruned to produce a single trunk. Once established, a crape myrtle is tolerant of drought, but this plant is not tolerant of salt-spray. Some varieties of crape myrtle mature at only twelve inches high and can be used as ground covers, patio plants, or grown as bonsai. ( English )
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- Resource Identifier:
- FI00900188
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