Aug 19th, 2015

A Rare Tree Blooms at Ginter

by Jonah Holland
Emmenopterys henryi at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Our Emmenopterys henryi tree was planted in 2000. We noticed it blooming for the first time about 5 years ago.

Emmenopterys henryi is a tree made famous by the legendary botanist, Ernest Wilson, who described the tree as “one of the most strikingly beautiful trees of Chinese forests.”
The first time this species bloomed in North America was in 1994! Lucky for you, this beauty blooms early every August Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. You’ll notice the funnel-shaped blooms have a unique form with each cluster surrounded by large white bracts,  and the blooms are accentuated by red petioles.

Emmenopterys henryi  is pollinated by a wide variety of insects including beetles and butterflies, and its seeds are winged, to be distributed by wind. Unfortunately however, in China this species of tree is classified as Near Threatened (NT) by the China Species Red List.

Emmenopterys henryi tree and Conservatory.

Here you can see the full form of the Emmenopterys henryi tree, and the location in the Garden on the east side of the Main Garden Walk.

As you can see in the photo below, our tree is at the top of the Main Garden Path in the Central Garden. Want to learn more about Emmenopterys henryi?  You can read more on Quarryhill Botanical Garden‘s website: http://bit.ly/Ehenryi

About Jonah Holland

Jonah Holland is Digital Content Manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where she has worked for 14 years overseeing social media, the blog, and the website. She is also a mom, yogi, open water swimmer, gardener, and seeker. She's been known to go for a walk in the Garden and come back with hundreds of plant photos, completely inspired to write her next blog post.

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