Tamarix chinensis
Common name
Chinese tamarisk
Family
Tamaricaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Features
A deciduous shrub or small tree to 10m tall, forming dense thickets. Slender branches which tend to droop, with smooth reddish-brown bark on young branches. Leaves are scale-like, about 2.5 mm long, with broad sheathing bases. The flower heads are a large broad terminal panicle composed of numerous spike-like racemes 2-5 cm long, appearing well after the leaves and on the current season’s growth. The flowers are pink about 2mm long, with 5 petals and a disc of 5 rounded dark red lobes. The capsule is c. 8mm long; pyramidal.
Similar taxa
Flowers numerous, in terminal panicles on the current seasons growth
Flowering
December, January, February, March, April
Flower colours
Red/Pink, White
Year naturalised
1968
Origin
China