Nothaphoebe cavaleriei

Relatively new to cultivation this very rarely seen member of the Laurel family from SW China has done particularly well in Hampshire at least, making a 15m+ specimen with Roy Lancaster and surviving unscathed the terrible winters of 2009-10. A very handsome evergreen, upright, well-branched tree with broad glossy, simple ovate foliage emerging a rich deep-red, pale grey-white beneath. Small soft-yellow flowers are borne in early to mid summer.