Texas Native Plants Database Click on image for full screen view. Flower Flower closeup Form Trunk character Fringe Tree, Flowering Ash, Old Man's Beard, Snowflower Tree, Grandfather Graybeard Chionanthus virginicus Oleaceae Fringe tree is a small understory tree that prefers dappled shade and acid soils. It grows in moist woods and along stream banks, and in the well-drained but richer upland sand and sandy loams of east Texas. It has 5 to 10 inch long panicles of delicate white flowers, which have strap-shaped petals that are 2 inches long and are wonderfully fragrant.
Fringe tree is almost evergreen where it occurs in the south, but farther north it is deciduous.