Plant Details

Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana

Northern Sweet Bay, Sweetbay Magnolia, Swampbay, Swamp Magnolia, Sweet Magnolia

Scientific Name:	Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana
Genus:	Magnolia
Species Epithet:	virginiana
Common Name:	Northern Sweet Bay, Sweetbay Magnolia, Swampbay, Swamp Magnolia, Sweet Magnolia
Plant Type	Tree
Life Cycle	Perennial
Plant Family	Magnoliaceae (Magnolia Family)
Native/Alien:	NC Native
Size:	36-72 ft.
Bloom Color(s):	White
Light:	Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day, Part Shade - 2 to 6 hours of sun per day
Soil Moisture:	Moist, Wet
Bloom Time:	April, May, June, July
Growing Area:	Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain
Habitat Description:	Pocosins, bay forests, and swamps in the Coastal Plain, streamhead pocosins, swamps, and sandhill seeps in the Sandhills, bogs and peaty swamps in the Piedmont (Weakley 2015). Rare in the NC Piedmont, common in the Coastal Plain.
Leaf Arrangement:	Alternate
Leaf Retention:	Evergreen
Leaf Type:	Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like
Leaf Form:	Simple
Life Cycle:	Perennial
Wildlife Value:	Has some wildlife value
Landscape Value:	Suitable for home landscapes
State Status:	No NC Status Listed, W6: Watch List: Regionally Rare ^(*Key)
Notes:	"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." Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center Magnollia virginiana var. australis is not recorded in NC, but grows from SC south and west (according to Weakley 2015).
Flower Looking like a smaller version of Magnolia grandiflora, Sweet Bay flowers are intensely fragrant. Halyburton Park, Wilmington, May 9, 2013
Developing fruit Jack Spruill, June, 2009, Hampstead
Trunk showing pale, smooth bark If you press the corky bark with your fingernail, it will depress and then return to its original shape. Paynter, Wilmington, 2011
Fruit (follicetum) with seeds Jorge Vigueras, 2010
Links:	USDA PLANTS Database Record Bird-Friendly Native Plants