Tamarix chinensis
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'Tamarix chinensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Tamarix juniperina Bunge
- Tamarix elegans Spach
- Tamarix indica Hort. ex Spach
- Tamarix gallica of some authors, not L.
Infraspecifics
Very closely allied to T. ramosissima, differing, according to Baum, in the ‘smaller, entire sepals, ovate petals and shorter bracts.’ (Fl. Europ., Vol. 2 (1968), p. 293). Also, whereas T. ramosissima normally bears its inflorescences on the season’s growths, T. chinensis has forms that produce them earlier in the season on the previous year’s wood, as in T. parviflora. These ‘vernal’ forms have generally been distinguished as a separate species – T. juniperina – while the forms flowering in late summer on the green wood have been confused with T. gallica.
T. chinensis is a native of eastern and central Asia, introduced to Europe at an unknown date, but probably in the 18th century. It was certainly in European gardens by the 1830s. According to B. R. Baum, in his monograph on the genus, T. chinensis is widely naturalised in N. America, and it seems probable that some plants cultivated in Britain in coastal localities and usually identified as T. gallica are really this species (though some are no doubt the true T. gallica, and others its relative T. africana).
'Plumosa'
A vernal and almost sterile form of T. chinensis that has been cultivated in Europe since the 1870s. It forms a shrub or small tree, becoming in time gaunt in habit, the very distinct plumose branches covered with pale green foliage. In their final subdivisions the branchlets are the thinnest of cultivated tamarisks, scarcely thicker than threads, but through its close branching, this species is the densest in habit. The larger leaves scattered on the thicker branchlets are 3⁄16 in. long, pointed, and ultimately decurved; they become smaller on each subdivision until, on the final ramifications they are about 1⁄32 in. long. Flowers bright pink in the bud state, paler after opening; produced in May on the twigs of the preceding season; racemes 11⁄2 to 2 in. long.It is the most graceful of hardy tamarisks, and is worth growing for the fine plumose effect of its branches, which stand out very prominently when associated with other shrubs, not only for their elegance but also for the peculiar freshness of their pale green. It has lived outside for many years at Kew, and forms a rugged trunk, but rarely flowers. It is cut back in hard winters.