Is this a Stewartia?

[theta]

I'm thinking about buying this tree, to me it looks like it could definitely be a Stewartia pseudo camelia. Guy at the nursery said it was a Franklinia Alatamaha? Some tree native to GA.

Please tell me what your trained eyes see. If it is a Stewartia pseudo camelia, would it be worth getting, vs a monadelpha?

 

[0soyoung]

Looks to be, IMHO.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

If the nursery said Franklinia, believe them and pass on it. Franklinia are very touchy, needing very consistent conditions, very unlikely to survive long term in a bonsai pot.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Franklinia do look similar to Stewartia.

 

[theta]

Thanks for the heads up, next time I go back I'm going to take a closer look and see if I can be sure 100%

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Why would you doubt the nursery employee? After all, the nursery knows what trees it has in inventory, they ordered it from the wholesaler. Not trying to bust chops, but why would you want to buy a Franklinia, hoping it would turn out to be a Stewartia? If a nursery is that confused about it's stock, you probably should not buy anything from them.

Franklinia tend to be more expensive than any other deciduous tree the same size.

 

[0soyoung]

Thanks for the heads up, next time I go back I'm going to take a closer look and see if I can be sure 100%

The exfoliating bark is like that of stewartia. I find no mention of this as a characteristic with Franklinia Alatamaha. Via Google, Franklina bark looks like this:

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Okay.
I give up.
If the OP wants to pay the Franklinia price for a Stewartia, that's up to them.

Because Franklinia are difficult to grow well, most nurseries charge a premium price for them, at least in my area, more than what you would pay for a Stewartia.

Personally I don't buy trees that are not labeled from nurseries. (unless I can get more than 50% off the price and I can identify the tree) Mislabeled and not labeled are signs of a poorly run nursery.

Yamadori, from the wild I'll tolerate those not having labels.

 

[theta]

I just doubt him because it's an old mom and pop store, he's old and took him forever to remember the name. This isn't some corporate nursery where they have listed inventory of every tree. I talk to the old guy out back, walk inside and tell his wife how much he told me it costs...

There were just 2 shoved back in the greenhouse by themselves.

Also, the leaves don't seem to match what I've found for Franklinia, plus as was mentioned, the exfoliating bark.

How much more expensive are Franklinia anyway, this guy quoted me $64 for it and it's in 15gal maybe?

 

[cbroad]

Don't know that much about both but I know they are closely related

 

[0soyoung]

I agree with @Leo in N E Illinois's advice (but don't understand his exasperation in this particular case).

Were I you, @theta (no angle jokes, please?) I would buy the goddam thing. Stewartia pseudo camellia isn't exactly a cakewalk in a pot ether. I think this would be fun! Likely to die (name a species that isn't likely to die in my hands), but I would much rather struggle/play on the fringes than to just follow 'the many'. Maybe I succeed and have a most unusual bonsai - the adventure is why I do this. What about you?

 

[theta]

Yeah I'm with ya. I don't mind messing around with some unconventional species at all. Probably will pick it up in a few weeks.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so exaserbated, a little, but not excessively so.

The price sounds reasonable to quite cheap for a Franklinia, and pretty good for a Stewartia, so go for it.