Carolina Silverbell

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