Carolina Silverbell

Halesia tetraptera

Styracaceae (Styrax Family)

▲▼ flowering trees

▲▼ flowers

▲▼ leaves

▲ trunk and bark

Location on Missouri State University campus:  west side of Siceluff Hall

Halesia caroliniana: Carolina Silverbell

·         leaves alternate, deciduous, simple, oval with pointed tips and serrate margins; dark green and hairless at maturity on upper side, and pubescent underneath; both sides hairy when first emerging

·         stems thin, brown, smooth to pubescent, with bark/epidermis becoming stringy in second year of growth

·         buds pointed, oval, scaled, 0.125—0.25 inches long

·         bark is gray-brown or black, with vertical lighter stripes when medium aged, becoming furrowed and platey with age

·         grows 30-40 feet tall, sometimes much larger, with equal or slightly more narrow width

·         flowers showy, white, bell-like in mid-spring either before or with leaf emergence

·         fruit is an oval, 4-winged drupe, 1.5 inches lon

·         prefers part shade to moderate shade in moist, fertile acidic soils; an understory tree in nature

·         slow to medium growth rate

·         native to Missouri