How to Grow and Care for storaxes

Japanese Snowbell is a deciduous flowering tree native to Japan China and Korea. This smaller-sized tree makes a lovely ornamental with its slightly fragrant white bell-shaped blossoms that bloom spring to summer. Its leaves turn yellow to orange in the fall before dropping.

Tree height reaches 6 to 15 m. The branches are green and have fine star-like hairs in the new branches, but the epidermis splits vertically when it becomes 2 years old, and becomes dark purple brown when it peels off. The bark is grayish black and smooth at first. The leaves are alternating, the leaf blades are 10 to 20 cm long and 6 to 20 cm wide, and fall from oval to wide oval, the tips are short and caudate, the base is round or wide wedge-shaped, and the edges are There are fine tooth-like saw blades with sharp tips. Star hair grows densely on the back of the leaves and turns grayish white. The whole inflorescence is 8 to 17 cm long and hangs down from the tip of the branch. The corolla is 1.7 to 1.9 cm in length and is deeply divided into five. The fruit is an oval shape with a diameter of 1.5 cm, with a fruit tip, slightly tipping, and star-shaped hair densely growing on the fruit epidermis. There is one seed, and when it ripens, the skin peels vertically, and the fruit falls with brown seeds, leaving a cup-shaped cocoon.

The deciduous and slender-branched american snowbell has glossy, bright-green foliage. Its flowers are bell shaped and white, creating a fragrant, cloud-like appearance when in bloom. This species attracts fruit birds, butterflies, and bees with its conspicuous and ornamental flowers. It’s easy to overlook in the wild though because it thrives in shady areas.

Storax tree (Styrax officinalis) is also called the snowbell or snowdrop bush because of its drooping, fragrant white flowers. Storax is the name of the resin that seeps from the plant's stem, which in ancient times was used in perfumes and incense. Its fruits still are sometimes made into rosary beads.

The formosa styrax has an abundance of white, scented flowers similar to the aroma of jasmine, and this tree has a very smooth bark. This rare, hardy species produces three to five flower clusters on its under branches, and it often attracts bees.