Snowdrop Tree

Snowdrop Tree (Halesia) - Beautiful N. American trees, hardy in this country. The commonest is H. tetraptera, one of the prettiest of flowering trees. It grows in England from 20 to 30 feet high, has a rounded head, with sharply-toothed leaves, in May bearing many white blossoms, in form like the Snowdrop, hence its popular name. It is of moderately rapid growth, and flourishes in any good, free soil. In some parts it ripens its seed. A similar species, distinguished in having but two wings to the seed-vessel (tetraptera having four), is H. diptera, of smaller growth, and not such a suitable tree for this climate; neither is H. parviflora, which, like the others, has small bell-like flowers.

The Snowdrop Tree is very slow, and grows and flowers badly on heavy, cold soils; on free, sandy loams it grows freely and flowers abundantly, and in that case is the most beautiful of flowering trees. There are several varieties of the common Snowdrop Tree—Meehani and laevigata and parviflora—as yet rare in gardens though deserving a place.

Related Flowers

Halesia Hispida

Halesia Hispida - The best examples of the tree I know of are in the neighborhood of Cork and Queenstown, but mild climatic conditions such as they exist under there are not essential to their well-being. The pure white fragrant flowers open in June and July on pendulous panicles, 6 to 9 inches long, that hang in a row beneath the branches, one from each joint. The curious fruits are spindle-shaped and covered with pale brown hairs. This tree, a native of Japan and China, is sometimes called Pterostyrax hispidum, and is, indeed, very distinct from the N. American Halesias of which the Snowdrop Tree is so well known a representative.

Halesia Tetraptera, Var. Monticola

Halesia Tetraptera, Var. Monticola - This grows at low altitudes, and does not appear to ascend to the slopes of the high Appalachian mountains, although the Halesia of those mountain forests was long considered identical with the lowland tree. The Halesia of the high slopes, however, is a tree often 80 or 90 feet high, with a trunk 3 feet in diameter, sometimes free of branches for a distance of 60 feet from the ground. Young trees are clean steamed with short branches, which form a narrow pyramidal head. The leaves are of rather different shape and less hairy than those of the lowland tree; the flowers are fully a third larger, and the fruit is nearly twice as large. Trees less than 10 feet high produce flowers and fruit freely. There is now every reason to believe that the mountain Halesia will prove one of the handsomest flowering trees of large size which it is possible to cultivate in this climate. Its tall trunk and narrow head suggest that it may prove a good street and roadside tree.—Arnold Arboretum Bulletin.