九芎Lagerstroemia subcostata

Lagerstroemia subcostata

Common Name: Chinese Crapemyrtle

Family: Lythraceae
Genus: Lagerstroemia

Native to Taiwan, Japan, China and the Philippines

Story
Last time, Yilan Township was called Jiu Qiong Township, because of before developed, there are a large area of wild crape myrtle. At Toucheng Leisure Farm, you can found it everywhere.

Due to the smooth surface, monkey also difficult to climb it, therefore its other name is called “monkey don't climb”. It is distribute on low-altitude forests in Taiwan. 

Now its bark start to peel-off, the inner surface was covered by white powder and so smooth when touch it.

 After peeling-off its old bark, the young bark was showing white in colour. It is forming another aesthetic view about this tree.

Uses: 
Hard wood resistance to fire, one of the excellent fire woods. After drying, it is used to make farm tools. It conserves water and soil for planting. Flower and roots can be used as medicine. Its also one of the source of food for Actias heterogyna’s larvae.

Take from http://www.ccs-hk.org/DM/butterfly/Saturnidae/Actias-heterogyna.html and for more information about this insect can click the link.

Characteristics:
During summer, it will start to bloom pink-white flowers. The bark will change from smooth whitish-grey to reddish-brown is one of the attractive characteristics about this plant. Oval or ovoid leaves with short petiole. It can be shrub or deciduous tree that can grow up to 14 meters.

Angelia