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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Pinckneya bracteata
Pinckneya is very rare in the wild, limited to sunny wetland areas in the Coastal Plain. But you don’t have live in a swamp or a bog in order to grow this pink-flowered beauty; pinckneya responds quite nicely to consistently moist, well-drained garden soils. To help the soil maintain its moisture, be sure to mulch heavily with pine bark, pine straw, or hardwood chips. A thin layer of newspaper under the bark, straw, or chips will make it even harder for moisture to escape.
But is pinckneya really worth that kind of trouble? In a word—yes. In full bloom, pinckneya is one of Georgia’s showiest native flowering trees. The showiness of the bloom comes not from the 1" greenish corolla but from the sepals, which are enlarged and petal-like and range in color from cream to pink to rose. The late-spring blossoms occur at the branch ends in large, loose clusters and are enough to stop traffic.
If you’re wondering why such a pretty tree should have so many un-pretty common names—fever tree, Georgia bark, Georgia fever bark—the answer can be found in history. Pinckneya’s inner bark was once a common ingredient in home remedies for malaria and other fevers. There was a lot of wisdom in the old folkways—pinckneya is closely related to the tropical chichona tree, the original source of quinine.
Rubiaceae (Madder Family)
Description: Large deciduous shrub or small tree with 5 to 8" elliptical leaves concentrated at the ends of its branches. In May and June, tubular greenish flowers appear surrounded by showy pink sepals about 2" long. 1" fruit capsules mature in fall.
10 to 20’ high and wide, rarely 30’.
Large shrub or small, multi-trunked tree with an open habit. Tends to sucker and form colonies in wet areas.
Slow to medium.
Full sun to light shade.
Although pinckeya is found in wetland areas in the wild, it can also be grown in moist, well-drained garden soil. Pinckneya is a native of the Coastal Plain and is not reliably hardy north of the lower Piedmont.
Assets include large, soft leaves and showy pink flowers in late spring.
Plant as a specimen or accent plant in a sunny, moist area.
Foliage provides shelter and nesting sites for birds and small mammals.
Found sporadically on the edges of sloughs, bogs, bays, swamps, and streams throughout the Coastal Plain. Due to the suppression of fire, this tree is now rare in the wild.
Seed (no pretreatment), softwood cuttings.
Text and photo by Leslie Kimel, Georgia Wildlife Federation
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Georgia Fever Bark
