Solved!! A Plant for You to ID - Loblolly Bay

[WDH]

You northern boys and girls may find this one a challenge, but should be no problem for the southern contingent.










Leaf is very slightly toothed, teeth almost not noticeable.  Note the chocolate brown stem.

[WDH]

OK.  Y'all must need a hint.  This is a coastal plain species.

[SwampDonkey]

Is it in the Kalmia genus? Is the fruit a capsule?

[WDH]

Negatory..........Good instincts though.

[Lanier_Lurker]

I feel like this is something I should know, but it ain't comin' to me.

[SwampDonkey]

Hmmm, I guess we can rule out titi (leatherwood) Cyrilla racemiflora, since that fruit isn't on a raceme.  ;)

Probably not a Myrica sp.

Got me beat.  ;D

[Lanier_Lurker]

Is it a Laurus?

[WDH]

No.  Not a Laurus.

It has a showy flower.

[Radar67]

I'm going to throw franklinia alatamaba into the hat because it blooms in September, and it was originally found on the SE coast of GA. The flower matches pretty close.

[WDH]

No, not it, but very close.

Franklinia was discovered by William Bartram in the mid 1700s in Georgia.  He came back a few years later and collected some specimens for the garden in Philadelphia.  That was the last time that it was ever seen in the wild.  It is extinct in the wild.  Those specimens that Bartram took to Philadelphia were planted.  Those few trees became the source of all the plants seen today.  It is planted as an ornamental in gardens.

Terry, you are oh so close, but that is not Franklinia.

[Radar67]

I'll try one more then, Loblolly bay Gordonia lasianthus. If that's not it, I don't know.

[WDH]

Bingo!

You win the prize, one wilted loblolly bay flower!

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/gordonia_lasianthus.html

[Radar67]

Okay...I'll take it embedded in a two part resin, formed into a paper weight.  ;)

[WDH]

It is a beautiful flower.  Some of the trees that I saw were 50 feet tall with a diameter of 12".  They were on one of our tracts in Eastern NC.  This block is one of the few natural stands that has not been harvested.  Mainly pond pine and loblolly bay.  Pretty, but a hellish place to try to negotiate .

[Tom]

Yes, it is a pretty flower and grows prolifically around here.  The back of my property is covered with them as so is the damp areas around the hard roads in the county.

If you are paying attention you can see a brilliant display as you travel the I-95 corridor from Savannah to Daytona.  The median strips are full of them.

I've sawed the wood and it makes a good furniture wood.  It is fairly soft and usually an even brown color.  But, sometimes it contains rich mineral stain that can be used for highlighting.   

It carries much the same looking flower as Red Bay but the bark of the loblolly gets thick and corky.

The most significant thing I've found interesting about loblolly bay is its tendency to grow so straight and tall.  Thickets in a swamp will make you think you have stepped into a grove of bamboo.

[SwampDonkey]

Interesting! Not having any experience with it at all, I thought it was just a shrub. Nice looking flower and quite big to I see. A lot of people driving, don't take time to "see stuff". Maybe some shouldn't, so the rest of us stay relatively safer on the road. ;)

[WDH]

It is a beautiful tree on the sites that favor it.  I have not seen it all that much, so it was fun to see a really mature stand in flower.