This attractive, native ornamental is popular for its fragrant flowers borne over a long period, showy conelike fruit, handsome foliage of contrasting colors, and smooth bark. A slender semi-evergreen tree with pale grey bark, upright trunks and picturesque, horizontal branches. The Sweetbay Magnolia has aromatic, spicy foliage and twigs. Leaves are simple, green above and whitish below. Foliage is smaller and thinner than southern magnolia.
Forest, Wetland
Native to the lowlands and swamps of the Atlantic coastal plain of the eastern United States, from Florida to Long Island, New York with a disjunct native population found on Cape Ann in northeastern Massachusetts.
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Common
Diurnal
Larval host of the Sweetbay silkmoth (Callosamia securifera)
Least Concern
