FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Reddish, smooth bark is distinctive, as well as large showy flowers, when present.
Description: Medium evergreen tree up to 20 m. Crown of young tree is narrow and conical, becoming rounded when mature.
Leaves: Alternate, elliptic, dark green, shiny, leathery leaves, 16 cm long and 5 cm wide. Leaf margins are serrated with small blunt serrations.
Flowers/Fruit: Beautiful 5-petaled white flower with silky fringed stamens in the center. Fruit is a capsule which splits into 5 parts as it releases seeds. Blooms later than many other trees (July to September); fruits September/October.
Habit and Range: Swamps, bay forests and pocosins in the Coastal Plain, especially extensive pocosins and large Carolina bays.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Gordonia lasianthus (loblolly bay) is similar to other evergreen trees and shrubs in bay forests and pocosins, but the leathery leaves of Gordonia lasianthus are serrated and have reddish petioles.
