Chinese Fringe Tree, Chionanthus retusus

How can you tell if it's not the native version?

The native version has larger flowers and larger leaves. It's leaf bases are wedge shaped. The leaf bases of retusus are rounded or heart shaped. There's also a difference in leaf texture.

Flowers are on terminals with Chionanthus retusus; in the leaf axils with Chionanthus virginicus.

That's a feature that you can pick out from a distance.

versus

Saw several wild, blooming American fringetrees along Rt 70 just west of Clear Spring, MD. There were several close together, then another couple just past them. Definitely not planted. They are very seldom seen wild, at least by me. Mine get hammered by EABs, but sprout well enough to not get killed.

A couple of casual observations from this area (admittedly based on a very small sample size): during the peak years of the EAB infestation damage to the larger native fringetrees was fairly common. Now that EAB numbers have declined here, there doesn't seem to be much noticeable damage. Also, I haven't noticed any EAB damage on the small number Chinese fringetrees we've planted (and at least a couple of them were planted a few years before EAB arrived).

Here's one of the newer Chinese fringetrees we've planted (photo 5/20/24):