American Yellowwood

Other names

Virgilia

Growth habit

Tree

Perennation

Long-lived polycarpic perennial

Native distribution

NC to Ky and TN Nowhere Very Common

Location

Newman Meadow, Sculpture Garden, Urban Tree Collection

Source of plant

Edmund Pfeifer, Weston Nurseries, Moses Nurseries, Princeton Nurseries, Schichtel's Nursery, Woodlanders Inc., Edgewood Nursery

Description

Usually a low-branching tree with a broad, rounded crown of delicate branches reaching 30' to 50' in height, 40' to 55' wide. Bark on older branches and trunks very smooth, gray and beech-like in overall appearance and texture. Flowers perfect, white, fragrant, 1" to 1 1/4" long, borne in 8" to 14" long, pendulous terminal panicles from May to early June; tends to flower more profusely in alternate years, or every third year. Fall color yellow to golden-yellow; fruit a brown, 2 1/2" to 4" long, 1/2" wide pod, maturing in October.

USDA Hardiness Zone

4

Special characteristics

fragrance, bark