For this Tree of the Week, we delved into our database to find our most inventoried tree species ever in ArborNote, and that was the Crapemytle (Lagerstroemia indica)! This tree has been mapped over 684,000 times! It is native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia, and other parts of Oceania, cultivated in warmer climates around the world. Crape myrtles are chiefly known for their colorful and long-lasting flowers, which occur in summer. Flowers are produced in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers. This crinkled appearance of its flowers is the source of its name: a “crape” being a historically common mourning bonnet with a distinctively crisp and crimped appearance. Colors vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Low maintenance needs make it a common municipal planting in parks, along sidewalks, highway medians and in parking lots. Like the southern magnolia, the crape myrtle has come to symbolize the American South because of its extensive planting and ability to thrive in hot, humid summer climates with regular precipitation.