HORTSCIENCE 49(12):15901592. 2014.

Lagerstroemia indica Xiangyun,

a Seedless Crape Myrtle
Xiaoming Wang1
Hunan Academy of Forestry and Hunan Key Laboratory for Breeding of
Clonally Propagated Forest Trees, 658 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha,
Hunan 410004, China
Jianjun Chen1
Hunan Academy of Forestry and Hunan Key Laboratory for Breeding of
Clonally Propagated Forest Trees, 658 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha,
Hunan 410004, China; and the University of Florida, IFAS, Mid-Florida
Research and Education Center, 2725 S. Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703
Huijie Zeng, Zhongquan Qiao, Yongxin Li, and Neng Cai
Hunan Academy of Forestry and Hunan Key Laboratory for Breeding of
Clonally Propagated Forest Trees, 658 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha,
Hunan 410004, China
Xiangying Wang
Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan
410004, China
Additional index words. crape myrtle, crepe flower, woody ornamental plants
Lagerstroemia indica L., commonly referred to as crape myrtle or crepe flower, is an
upright, wide-spreading, deciduous shrub or
small tree in the loosestrife family Lythraceae. It is native to the Himalayas through
southern China, Southeast Asia, and Japan
(Huxley, 1992) and has been cultivated as an
important flowering ornamental tree for more
than 1500 years in China (Chen, 2001). Crape
myrtles were introduced into North America
in the late 1700s and became naturalized in
the United States from Virginia to Arkansas
south to Texas and Florida (Byers, 1997;
Dirr, 1998; Egolf and Andrick, 1978). Currently, more than 200 named cultivars are
available (Pooler, 2006a) and widely produced for different flower colors, growth
forms, and exfoliating bark (Pooler, 2006b;
Pooler and Dix, 1999; Pounders et al., 2013;
Whitcomb, 1998, 2004, 2006). Breeding of
crape myrtles has also been active in China
(Cai et al., 2010), including genetic improvement of flower color, size, and fragrance
(Ye et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2008, 2010),
resistance to aphids and powdery mildew
(Chen et al., 2007), tolerance to chilling
temperature, and extended flowering period
(Wang et al., 2013). Currently, more than 120
cultivars are available in China (Huang et al.,
2013; Wang et al., 2008).

Received for publication 26 Sept. 2014. Accepted

for publication 17 Oct. 2014.
This study was supported in part by the Changsha
City Science and Technology Key Project Fund
051003-22 and Hunan Academy of Forestry Young
Scientist Fund 2013LQJ04.
1
To whom reprint requests should be addressed;
e-mail jjchen@[Link]; wxm1964@[Link].

1590

Crape myrtles flower on the current years

shoots (Huxley, 1992). After pollination, ovaries begin to expand into developing seeds and
the showy flower petals senesce. In general, no
new flowers will be produced on the spent
shoots. To have continuous blooming, plants
are pruned; a new flush develops in 4 to 5
weeks, from which additional flowers are
produced. In addition to pruning, another
approach for extending flowering period
would be to have plants that do not produce
seeds (Pooler, 2006a). Seedless plants would
conserve energy to support reblooming on the
spent shoots.
This report describes a selection of mutant
crape myrtle plant that does not produce seed
and reblooms on the same panicles, extending the flower period. A 4-year field trial
showed that the characteristics of this mutant
are stable, and it has been introduced as a new
cultivar in the Chinese ornamental plant
market.
Origin
A pink flowering crape myrtle plant
(Fig. 1A) was identified in Fengshu Village,
Taoyuan County, Hunan Province, during
a survey of crape myrtle genetic resources
led by Hunan Academy of Forestry in 2006.
The plant had no fruit and subsequent
observation indicated that this plant rebloomed on the spent panicles. To isolate
this individual, mature buds from this plant
were grafted onto branches of 10 plants of
a pink flower cultivar Pink (Fig. 1B) in Fall
2006. Pink has dark green leaves and
abundant flowers. The grafted plants were
compared with Pink (Fig. 1C) from 2007 to
2009. Three-year evaluation indicated that

the grafted plants grew as vigorously as Pink

and produced abundant flowers (Fig. 1D)
without fruit (Fig. 1E). Meanwhile, cuttings
were produced from the grafted plants as well
as two popular L. indica cultivars, Red Flower
and Red Leaf, in 2007. Red Flower has green
leaves and deep pink flowers. New leaves of
Red Leaf are dark red and mature and old
leaves are reddish green and flowers are pink.
Plant growth and flower characteristics of this
mutant were compared with Red Flower and
Red Leaf from 2010 to 2013. Results showed
that the characteristics of this mutant, i.e., no
fruit or seed, continuous flowering on the
spent panicles, and prolonged flowering period, were stable. The mutant was named as
L. indica Xiangyun in accordance with the
International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (Brickell et al., 2009). A specimen of this cultivar has been deposited at the
Experimental Station of Hunan Academy of
Forestry as a cultivar standard.
Description
Xiangyun is a shrub that can grow up to
2.8 m with a trunk caliper of 3.5 cm in 4 years
from rooted cuttings. The trunks are attractive and have exfoliating bark, particularly
noticeable in winter. The plant canopy is
a dome-shaped crown. New branches average 98.5 cm in length and 0.59 cm in diameter. Leaves are green, 137A according to
the Royal Horticultural Society Color Chart
(Royal Horticultural Society, 2001), opposite, simple, and oblong with entire margins.
Mean leaf length is 7 cm and width is 3.9 cm.
Panicles are terminal, cylindrical to a mean
length of 27.3 cm and diameter of 23 cm.
There are more than 40 flowers per panicle.
Flowers are pink, N66C and are 4.3 cm in
diameter and 5.2 cm in length. Petals are
fan-shaped, clawed, and six per flower. Stamens are 42. Fruit or seed was not observed
on this cultivar even when it was grown side
by side with other cultivars such as Red
Leaf or Red Flower that produce abundant
fruit and seed. To date, the mechanism underlying the seedless nature of this cultivar is
unclear.
Culture and Performance
Xiangyun is propagated using softwood stem cuttings or budding techniques.
Methods of in vitro propagation have not
been developed for this cultivar. For cutting
propagation, the basal end of single-eye
or multiple-eye cuttings should be dipped
in 2000 mgL1 K-IBA (potassium salt
indole-3-butyric acid) solution for 40 s and
then stuck in a soilless substrate such as 50%
peat, 30% perlite, and 20% pine bark. Cuttings
can root in 2 weeks when the temperature is
above 20 C. Xiangyun can be easily grafted
to other L. indica cultivars using budding
techniques. Grafted buds appear in 2 weeks
and produce new branches if an ambient
temperature is above 20 C.
To further evaluate its performance,
Xiangyun was compared with two popular
HORTSCIENCE VOL. 49(12) DECEMBER 2014

Fig. 1. Characteristics of crape myrtle mutant (L. indica Xiangyun) grown in Changsha, Hunan Province,
China. The original mutant plant discovered in Taoyun County, Hunan Provinces, China (A); plants
grafted with the mutants buds (B); non grafted (left) and grafted plants (right) (C); full bloom of
a grafted plant (D); fruiting of a non-grafted plant (left) and absence of fruit on the grafted plant (right)
(E); and Xiangyun flowered in November (F).

cultivars, Red leaf and Red Flower, in

Changsha, Hunan Province, from 2010 to
2013. Ten 3-year-old plants from cuttings of
Xiangyun, Red Leaf, and Red Flower
were planted in the Experimental Station of
Hunan Academy of Forestry, which is located between 11153# and 11405# E longitude and 2751# to 2840# N latitude.
Annual average temperature is 17.03 C with
a mean of 4.6 C in January and 29.0 C in
July. Average annual precipitation is 1331
mm and a maximum photosynthetic photon
flux density of 2000 mmolm2s1. The experiment was a completely randomized design with 10 replications. Branch and flower
panicle lengths and diameters were measured
using either a rule or a Vernier caliper from
2010 to 2013. Data were analyzed by analysis
of variance (SAS GLM; SAS Institute, Cary,
NC), and mean separations were performed
using Fishers protected least significant differences at the 5% level. Results showed that
mean branch length and diameter of Xiangyun were 78.2 cm and 0.52 cm in 2010 and
106.6 cm and 0.64 cm in 2011, respectively,
which were significantly greater than Red
Flower, but the differences between the two
cultivars became insignificant in 2012 and
2013 (Table 1). Branch lengths and diameters
of Red Leaf over the years were similar to
Xiangyun except for the branch length in
2010. Flower panicles of Xiangyun and
Red Leaf were similar but significantly
greater than Red Flower (Table 2).
Bud break of the three cultivars occurred
at the same time, mid-March (Table 3). The
first flower appeared in mid-June for both
Xiangyun and Red Leaf but 10 d later
for Red Flower. The full bloom period for
Xiangyun started mid-July and extended
to early October, but full bloom for both
Red Leaf and Red Flower ranged from

Table 1. Mean branch length (cm) and diameter (cm) of three cultivars of Lagerstroemia indica grown in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, from 2010 to 2013.
2010
2011
2012
2013
Cultivar
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
0.52 a
106.6 a
0.64 a
110.5 a
0.60 a
98.5 a
0.58 a
Xiangyun
78.2 az
Red Flower
69.0 b
0.40 b
95.1 b
0.52 b
102.2 a
0.61 a
92.8 a
0.55 a
Red Leaf
71.3 b
0.46 ab
109.6 a
0.56 ab
110.5 a
0.62 a
94.8 a
0.61 a
z
Different letters within a column represent significant difference at P # 0.05 by Fishers protected least significant difference test.

Overall mean
Length
Diameter
98.5 a
0.59 a
89.8 a
0.52 a
96.6 a
0.56 a

Table 2. Flower panicle length (cm) and diameter (cm) of three cultivars of Lagerstroemia indica grown in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, from 2010 to 2013.
2010
2011
2012
2013
Cultivar
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
Length
Diameter
19.7 a
27.8 a
23.0 a
30.9 a
26.4 a
27.3 a
23.0 a
Xiangyun
23.3 az
Red Flower
17.3 b
14.5 b
20.2 b
16.9 b
23.1 b
18.7 b
19.8 b
16.7 b
Red Leaf
24.2 a
21.2 a
26.4 a
23.8 a
29.7 a
25.0 a
28.0 a
24.5 a
z
Different letters within a column represent significant difference at P # 0.05 by Fishers protected least significant difference test.

Overall mean
Length
Diameter
27.3 a
23.0 a
20.1 b
16.7 b
27.1 a
23.6 a

Table 3. Phenological stages of three cultivars of Lagerstroemia indica grown in Changsha, Hunan Province, China.z
Cultivar
Bud break
First flower
Xiangyun
Mid-March
Mid-June
Red Leaf
Mid-March
Mid-June
Red Flower
Mid-March
Late-June
z
Based on the observations from 2010 to 2013.

HORTSCIENCE VOL. 49(12) DECEMBER 2014

Full bloom
Mid-July to early October
Mid-July to early September
Mid-July to early September

Flowering end
Early November
Mid-October
Early October

Fruit mature
No fruit
October to November
October to November

Defoliation
Late November
Mid-November
Mid-November

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mid-July to early September. Xiangyun

flowering ended in early November (Fig.
1F) with no fruit or seed, and defoliation
started in late November. Red Leaf ended
flowering in mid-October, fruit matured in
October to November, and defoliation occurred in mid-November. Red Flower
ended flowering in early October, and fruit
mature and leaf defoliation were the same as
Red Leaf. The distinct characteristics of
this new cultivar, no fruit or seeds, reblooming on the same panicles, and extended
flower period, were stable. Xiangyun,
therefore, should be a valuable addition to
the landscape industry.
Availability
Limited numbers of rooted cuttings of L.
indica Xiangyun are available for research
purposes and can be obtained from Xiaoming
Wang, the Hunan Key Laboratory for Breeding of Clonally Propagated Forest Trees.
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