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Gordonia lasianthus
Loblolly Bay
Florida native
A small to medium sized evergreen tree of bayheads and swamps throughout most of Florida except for the southern tip of the peninsula. The range extends through the southeastern coastal states from Mississippi to North Carolina.
Growing up to 20m (66 ft.) tall with leathery leaves that are dark green on top. Trees often have a couple of leaves that have turned red. The alternate leaves are 8-16cm (3-1/8 to 6-1/4 in.) long and 3-5cm (1-3/16 to 2 in.) wide, oblong to elliptic with crenate to bluntly serrate margins. The flowers first appear in May and June with 5 white petals and numerous yellow stamens. The fruit is an ovoid capsule.
Similar to sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), which has leaves with silvery-white undersides and swamp bay(Persea palustris), which has leaves with margins that are crenate to toothed. The closely related silky camellia (Stewartia malacodendron) has purple stamens.
Gordonia lasianthus is a member of the Theaceae - Tea family.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Nov 20, 2019
