Korean Stewartia seeds

Habitat

hardy through zone 5
Korea an understory tree
Habit and Form

a small, deciduous tree
20′ to 30′ tall
relatively dense foliage
pyramidal or oval shape
upright and spreading branching

Summer Foliage

alternate leaf arrangement
simple, elliptic leaves
dark green color
very minute serrations along the margin

Autumn Foliage

usually quite showy, but some individual plants don’t color well
mix or orange, yellow, red and purple

Flowers

white flowers with yellow stamens
3″ in diameter
5 to 6 petals
more open and flattened than S. pseudocamellia
blooms in June and July
long bloom period

Fruit

a hard, woody, pointed capsule
dehisces in 5 parts
brown color when mature
1.5″ to 2″ long

Bark

very attractive and striking
flakes off in irregular puzzle piece shapes
color is a mix of steel gray, browns and orange-brown
underlying bark is very smooth

Culture

full sun for most of the day
needs acidic, moist, cool, fertile soils that are well-drained and high in organic matter
somewhat difficult to transplant
relatively carefree once established
trim up lower branches some to make bark more visible
Landscape Use

specimen
lawn tree
for long bloom time in summer when most trees are done blooming
for bark
for good fall color

Liabilities

hard to transplant
somewhat slow growing
relatively uncommon and expensive to purchase
not tolerant of difficult sites
ID Features

flaking bark
white flowers with yellow stamens in summer
branchlets are 2-ranked
buds are elongated with hairs at the tips
stems with a zigzag pattern

Propagation

by cuttings
by seed
Cultivars/Varieties

none