Stewartia rostrata. Dr. Michael Dirr comments that this species is grown at the Arnold Arboretum and is planted along the Chinese Walk. It will make a nice small tree of 15-20'. Ours flowers quite early here, late April into May. The flower buds are surrounded by large reddish tinged bracts. There is a form sold as "pink," but one really has to use their imagination to see the pink. Just before the flower buds open, the petal's undersides are a blush pink, but when the flower opens, very little of this remains. I did bring a new "pink" selection back from Japan a couple of years ago that was supposed to be more pink, but this is really a stretch, even though it is a little pink. Dirr comments that the trunk has "gray-brown, ridged-and-furrowed bark similar to S. ovata." My original specimen has yet to develop this characteristic. None the less, this is an easily grown species and will perform best if sited in morning sun and afternoons shade or filtered sun. It is one of the more vigorous growers when it settles into ones garden and will also flower at a young age.
Zones 5-8
