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