Common Name: silverbell tree
Type: Tree
Family: Styracaceae
Native Range: Southeastern United States
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 20.00 to 30.00 feet
Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: White
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Flowering Tree
Flower: Showy
Fruit: Showy
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, acidic, organically rich soils in part shade. Mulch the root zone. May be grown as a large, multi-stemmed shrub or trained as a single trunk tree.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Halesia diptera, commonly known as two-winged silverbell, is a small deciduous tree or large shrub that is native to floodplains, stream banks, wet woods and swampy areas primarily along the Gulf Coast from South Carolina and northern Florida west to Texas. It grows with a rounded form to 20-30’ tall. Showy clusters (3 to 6 flowers per cluster) of bell-shaped white flowers (less than 1" wide) with deeply lobed petals appear in spring (April-May). Flowers are followed by flattened two-winged fruits (dry drupes to 2” long) that ripen in fall. Oval to obovate, irregularly toothed, dark green leaves (4-8” long). Leaves turn yellow in fall. Bark exfoliates in thin scales.
Genus name honors the Reverend Stephen Hales (1677-1761), English physiologist, chemist, and inventor.
Specific epithet from the Greek words di meaning two and ptera meaning wings are in reference to the two-winged fruit of this plant.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Lawns. Near patios. Woodland gardens. Shrub borders.