Chionanthus pygmaeus NatureServe Explorer Species Reports — NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.
ITIS Reports — Chionanthus pygmaeus ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.
FWS Digital Media Library — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.This plant is quite variable in appearance, depending on the type of habitat in which it grows. It is usually a shrub remaining under a meter tall, but at times may grow into a tree 4 to 5 meters in height. The branches may grow directly from the sand if the trunk becomes totally buried in a dune. The dark yellowish-green, leathery leaves are roughly oval in shape and may be 3 to 10 centimeters long. The petioles may be maroon in color. The inflorescence is a panicle of three to six flowers borne in the leaf axils. The fragrant flower has four elongated, narrow lobes in its bell-shaped corolla and measures up to 1.5 centimeters long. The drooping panicle with many narrow corolla lobes may appear fringelike, hence the plant’s common name. The fruit is a drupe up to 2.5 centimeters long which ripens purple or brownish in color. The plant reproduces sexually via seed and vegetatively by growing new shoots. It resprouts after its aboveground parts are burned away in fire. It is a dioecious species.It is probably quite long-lived