OLEACEAE - - Olive Family

Chionanthus virginicus Linnaeus — Fringe-tree, Old Man's Beard

Fringe-tree (Chionanthus virginicus) - Also known as Old Man's Beard, Grancy Gray Beard or Granny Gray Beard, is a large shrub or tree to 10 m. in height. The leaves are narrow-elliptic to oblong or obovate-oblong, 8 to 20 cm. long, dark green and lustrous above, paler below. Flowers are in panicles, 10 to 20 cm. long, usually with leafy bracts at the base; petals 1.5 to 3 cm. long, about 2 mm. The fruit is ellipsoid, 1.5 to 2 cm. long, dark blue.

Habitat:

Dry, mesic, or wet forests and woodlands, granitic flatrocks and domes, glades and barrens over various rocks (including granite, greenstone, etc.), swamp forests in the Coastal Plain, tidal swamps, rarely pocosins. C. virginicus in our area shows a diversity of morphology and correlated habitat that suggests the possible presence of two taxa. Swamp- and pocosin-inhabiting populations in the outer Coastal Plain have leaves 4-8× as long as wide and seem very different than Piedmont dry woodland populations with leaves 1-2× as long as wide; further and more careful study is needed. C. virginicus is a traditional southern yard plant, often used as a "specimen plant", very showy in spring, particularly when grown to its full size.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Chionanthus virginicus (Fringe-tree)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Chionanthus virginicus (Fringe-tree)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.