CHIONANTHUS VIRGINICUS - WHITE FRINGE TREE SEEDS - COMBINED IN SOUTH AFRICA

Chionanthus commonly known as Fringetrees is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with three species extending north into temperate regions, one (C. retusus) in eastern Asia and two (C. virginicus and C. henryae) in eastern North America. Most of the tropical species are evergreen, while the three temperate species are deciduous. Some botanists restrict Chionanthus to the deciduous, temperate species, treating the evergreen species in a separate genus Linociera, but apart from leaf persistence, there is no other consistent difference between them.           They are shrubs and small to medium-sized trees growing to 3–25 m tall. The leaves are opposite, simple. The flowers are produced in feathery panicles, with a corolla subdivided into four slender lobes; they are white, pale yellow, or tinged pink. The fruit is a drupe containing a single seed. Chionanthus virginicus commonly known as White Fringetree is a tree native to the eastern United States, from New Jersey south to Florida, and west to Oklahoma and Texas. It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to as much as 10 to 11 metres tall, though ordinarily less. The bark is scaly, brown tinged with red. The shoots are light green, downy at first, later becoming light brown or orange. The white flowers are best seen from below. Autumn color is a fine, clear yellow, a good contrast with viburnums and evergreens. It also has some medicinal uses. The dried roots and bark were used by Native Americans to treat skin inflammations. The crushed bark was used in treatment of sores and wounds.