Halesia

Halesia, also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree, is a small genus of four or five species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, native to eastern Asia (southeast China) and eastern North America (southern Ontario, Canada south to Florida and eastern Texas, United States). They grow to 5–20 m (16–66 ft) tall (rarely to 39 m (128 ft)), and have alternate, simple ovate leaves 5–16 cm long and 3–8 cm broad. The flowers are pendulous, white or pale pink, produced in open clusters of 2-6 together, each flower 1–3 cm long. The fruit is an oblong dry drupe 2–4 cm long, with two or four narrow longitudinal ribs or wings.

Species
  • Halesia carolina L. - eastern North America (syn. H. parviflora or H. tetraptera)
  • Halesia diptera Ellis - southeastern North America
  • Halesia macgregorii Chun - eastern China
  • Halesia monticola (Rehd.) Sarg.; Mountain Silverbell - eastern North America (syn. H. carolina var. monticola; H. tetraptera var. monticola)
  • Halesia parviflora Michx. - eastern North America
  • Halesia tetraptera Ellis - eastern North America

H. diptera is the most distinct, readily distinguished from the other taxa by its two-winged fruit; the other taxa all have four-winged fruit.

H. monticola is the largest of the genus, with specimens up to 39 m (128 ft) tall known in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina; the second-largest is H. macgregorii, reaching 24 m (79 ft) in China. The others rarely exceed 10 m (33 ft) tall. However H. monticola is now considered to be a subspecies of H. tetraptera.

Read more about Halesia:  Taxonomy, Cultivation and Uses