Specific information of Lagerstroemia indica

Lagerstroemia indica is a precious environmental protection plant in China. People call it "hundred-day red" and "scratching the itch tree" because it will tremble if it gently moves the bark. This is because this tree trunk is very sensitive to vibration. It is a deciduous tree with a height of10m.

I. Morphological characteristics

Lagerstroemia indica is a long-lived tree species with strong adaptability. Because its tree shape is not high, it is very suitable as a garden ornamental tree and a street greening tree. It's a small deciduous tree, belonging to the family Caesalpinia, with a height of10m. Its branches buckle smoothly, and its bark falls off in pieces in autumn and winter. Its branchlets are slightly quadrangular with opposite or nearly opposite leaves.

Second, growing habits

Lagerstroemia indica has strong adaptability to environmental conditions. Resistant to drought and cold. The requirements for soil are not strict, but it grows healthily and has a long flowering period when planted in fertile, deep, loose and slightly acidic soil; Fear of waterlogging, avoid planting in places with high groundwater level and low humidity; Like light, growth and flowering need plenty of sunshine and a little shade tolerance; It thrives in a warm and humid climate.

Third, species distribution.

Mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Beijing, Tianjin and other provinces and cities. After years of introduction, crape myrtle can be cultivated in many places. Foreign countries are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia to Oceania, all of which belong to about 50 species, and there are 16 species in China.

Fourth, the garden value.

(1) Trees for roads or gardens

As far as greening function is concerned, Lagerstroemia indica is a single tree species used as street trees. There are even fewer characteristic tree species such as Lagerstroemia indica, which not only meets the basic requirements of street trees for shading, dust retention, noise reduction and absorption of toxic gases, but also has beautiful tree posture and gorgeous colors. Therefore, the technological development and popularization of Lagerstroemia indica as a street tree will have a broad market (but street trees have certain requirements for trunk height (generally, the lowest branch height is more than 2.0m above the ground), but usually Lagerstroemia indica has low branching points, strong lateral bud germination and relatively weak trunk polarity, so the technical difficulty to be solved as a street tree is to cultivate trunk. He Ping recommended the following three methods to solve this problem: a. Short cutting strong buds or changing heads; B. dry cutting method; C. repeatedly cut short the side branches to promote the central trunk.

(2) Street trees in the garden

The single planting of trees is mainly to show the physical beauty of trees, and can be independently landscaped for viewing. As an exclusive tree species, it is generally required to have a beautiful tree shape, a tall or strange trunk shape and a long life. The biggest advantage of Lagerstroemia indica as an ornamental tree species lies in its stretched posture, lush foliage and lush flowers; However, the main problem is how to achieve the "Qiao Hua", which needs to work hard on the stem shape and crown shape to fully reflect its ornamental value.

(3) Landscape trees

The landscape trees we are talking about here have a wide meaning: they refer to all garden trees that are applied to roadsides, pools, mounds, corridors, front and back houses, or matched with rock buildings, or scattered in groups of 30 to 50 trees in some small scenic spots, thus forming a natural and interesting layout. Most of them have unique ornamental characteristics in branches, flowers, fruits, leaf color or leaf shape, which can be well coordinated with the surrounding environment in garden application and create beautiful scenery. When Lagerstroemia indica is used as a landscape tree, we should fully consider the differences of application places in order to choose different styles to match it. Here we recommend several kinds, such as cup-shaped, happy-shaped, cluster-shaped, combined group plants, pavilions, vases, flower baskets, archways, animals and even geometric shapes.

(4) Tree for bonsai modeling

Bonsai is not only a potted plant confined to indoor viewing, but also applied to parks, botanical gardens, squares and even residential areas for various sketches. Lagerstroemia indica has been a very good bonsai tree material since ancient times, and it is one of the "eighteen bachelors" in pile scenery; Among the eight traditional schools of pile scenery, Huizhou School and Sichuan School are widely used. To sum up, it has various shapes, such as bending, cross-bending, bending-dry, dry-type, twisting-type, screen-type and Youlong-type. Therefore, another important garden landscape use of Lagerstroemia indica can also be equipped with various pile landscape shapes in a suitable environment to achieve a rich, simple, elegant and finishing touch effect.

(5) Trees for greening the environment

Lagerstroemia indica has strong anti-pollution ability and can resist toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride and chlorine, so it is also an ideal flower for beautifying the environment in industrial and mining areas and residential areas.

Medicinal value

Li Shizhen also recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica that the bark, wood, flowers, seeds and leaves of Lagerstroemia indica can be used as medicine. The roots, leaves and skins of Lagerstroemia indica have the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, promoting blood circulation and stopping bleeding.