The Latin specific epithet malacodendron literally means "soft tree".

Stewartia malacodendron is an understory woodland species with rich brown bark.

The stamens have purple filaments and blue anthers that fill the middle of flat, cup shaped corollas.

Stewartia malacodendron is native to Texas, where it is rare, being found in a small area along Little Cow Creek near Burkeville, growing at the sides of streams, ravines and wooded bluffs in well draining soils.

It is also found in scattered locations in the states of Arkansas, Georgia, Florida (panhandle region), Louisiana and southern Alabama and as far north as Virginia.