Andaman Crape Myrtle

Crape Myrtle flower

Lythraceae-Andaman crape myrtle; large tree, flowers purple, fruits woody.

Andaman Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia hypoleuca) is a large deciduous tree with thin whitish bark. Leaves are simple, distichous, nearly opposite, nearly stalkless, elliptic to ovate oblong or lance shaped, thinly leathery, pale beneath. Flowers are many, showy, borne in large cylindrical or narrowly pyramidal panicles at branch-ends. Sepal tube is funnel shaped, woody, ribbed. Petals are purple or lilac, clawed and crisped. Fruit is woody, capsular, ovoid, dark brown, supported by persistent calyx, splitting in to valves. Seeds are small, many, flat, membranous and winged. Andaman Crape Myrtle is endemic to Andaman Islands. It is the state flower of A & N Islands. Flowering: July-August.

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