Another pic.

Leaf close up.

Would like a better look at twigs and buds.

This is all I have, unfortunately. I won't be getting back that way for a few months either.

Magnolia virginiana

I was thinking M. virginiana, but seemed too obvious, so thought it must be something else. The second picture, with its semi-deciduous look, looks just like mine, so, it might be just that. If it is virginiana and has not flowered, they really are missing something delightful in fragrance. Its small flowers even more aromatic than M.grandiflora. It is much underutilized in the North where Saucers and Star Mags dominate. Apparently, there are northern and southern varieties of the same virginiana species. The northern ones are more deciduous, the southern ones more semi-evergreen.

This post was edited by njoasis on Thu, Jan 1, 15 at 18:57

I thought of that one also, but didn't think the individual leaf shown was right. The scattering of dead leaves having gone tannish is like that species however; if you remember the leaves being markedly pale beneath then that would cinch it.

Sweebay magnolia.
The vine that is growing up the side of the tree may have killed the main trunk, and the branches with leaves still on them are the other branches left.
That poor shrub looks neglected big time.
They are evergreen in your area, or at lest they are suppose to be.
In any case, I would cut the dead part down, or even get rid of it and plant something pretty there, that doesn't need a lot of water.

I agree about that single leaf looking slightly off, but not sure why. Dark out now, so can't compare it to mine. But as stated above if the leaf underside is paler (almost a grayish/green hue), definitely M. virginiana (aka., sweetbay).

In the research I did on my own, Sweetbay was what I was thinking too, but it just didn't seem quite right. I'll have to look at the undersides of the leaves when I go back there in the spring.

I'll also be curious to see if it decides to flower next year. I didn't notice any seed pods on it this time around.

The whole thing is alive. It almost all green yet when I visited at Thanksgiving. It's just multi-trunked. We cut the vines, so the shouldn't cause any more trouble. It seems like crazy big vines of all types flourish in that part of the world...

It looks stressed alright. They are completely evergreen here in my area.

Clearing around it may have affected it. Otherwise the few native growing sweet-bays I saw when I was in the Orlando area were little scraggly sticks confined to low areas near water, where they competed with other shrubs in thickets. The tree and situation shown here look similar.

We cleared out the area around it recently, so we'll see what that does. I've been helping my FIL hack away at the out of control bamboo and vine jungle...