The Korean Stewartia (Stewartia koreana) is a small to medium size tree know for its camellia like flowers and flaking, brown-orange, patterned bark when mature. It is pyramidal or oval shaped and has alternate elliptical shaped leaves that turn yellow, purple and red in the fall. The flower has five white petals with yellow stamens and appears on the tree from June until August. This tree is very similar to Stewartia pseudocamelia Maxim. and the differences are slight though nurserymen Bill Flemer and Don Shadow indicated that S. koreana is more heat tolerant. E.H. Wilson introduced this specimen from Korea in 1917.

MP #656. Stewartia koreana Rehd.

Marquand Park Specimen Label and Coordinates: MP #656, 477.

Specimen Provenance:

Common name: Korean Stewartia

Species Origin: Korea

New Jersey Status: Not listed.

Habit: A small dense, pyramidal tree, 20 – 30’ tall.

Habitat: Zones 5 -7.

Trunk/Stem: Bark characteristically rich, flaky ranging from soft grays and browns to orangish-brown with all colors intermingled on the same tree – am important decorative garden feature.

Leaves: Deciduous, Alternate, Simple. Alternate, simple, elliptic to broad-elliptic; 1 ¼” long ¾ to 3” wide; abruptly acuminate or rounded; margins finely serrate; upper surface dark green and glabrous; undersurface lighter and pubescent. Leaves may turn red to reddish purple in fall

Flowers: Perfect. White 5 – 6 petals of 3” diameter. Stamens yellow. Flower suspended by ¾” long glabrous pedicels. Flowers are more flattened than cup-shaped. Blooming in June-July.

Fruits and seeds: Fruit a woody 5-valved capsule, ½” diameter splitting into 10 segments. Seeds flattened, angular present in each cell. Seeds develop in autumn.