Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | Loblolly bay is a shrub to medium-sized tree that reaches heights of 60' to 70'. It has a compact crown that forms a column or pyramid shape. |
| Leaves: | The leaves are simple, alternately arranged, persistent, and 2" to 6" long by 1 ½" to 2" wide. The leathery, elliptical shaped leaves usually have shiny, dark green upper surfaces while the underneath surface is duller and pale. The leaf base is wedged and the leaf tip is acute. The leaf margin is finely serrated with blunt teeth. |
| Flowers: | The flowers are showy white, cup-shaped and 3" across. Five petals surround many yellow stamens. The fragrant flowers occur singly on long stalks at the base of younger leaves. |
| Fruit: | The fruit is an egg-shaped woody capsule that is ½" in diameter splitting into sections along 5 sutures, or depressed lines, at maturity. It has silky hairs and contains 10 to 20 winged seeds. |
| Bark: | The dark reddish-brown bark is smooth or lightly furrowed on young trees and becomes deeply furrowed between narrow flat ridges as the trees mature. |
| Habitat: | Loblolly bay grows in the moist soils of swamps, bay areas, cypress domes, and wetland depressions of pinelands and low hardwood forests. Other associated species include slash pine, pond cypress, swamp and black tupelo, red maple, and Atlantic white cedar. |