Magnolia grandiflora
Common name:
Southern Magnolia
Bullbay
Pronunciation:
mag-NO-li-a gran-di-FLO-ra
Family:
Magnoliaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Evergreen tree, 60-80 ft, (18-24 m), dense, stately. Leaves alternate, simple, large (13-25 cm long), glossy green above, often cinnamon brown "felt" on underside. Flowers are large (20-30 cm across), perfect, creamy-white, fragrant, usually with 6 petals, start to appear in late spring. Fruits are rose-red, aggregates of follicles, 7.5-15 cm long, ripening in fall.
- Sun, best in partial shade. Plant in rich, porous, somewhat acid soil. Protect from winter winds and sun in northern areas.
- Hardy to USDA Zone (6)7 Native from North Carolina to Florida and Texas. The State Tree of Mississippi.
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A large number of cultivars, well over 125 (Dirr, 1998), some of the more common ones include:
- ‘D. D. Blanchard’ - to 50 ft × 30 ft (15 × 9 m), pyramidal shape, leaves glossy dark green, underside orangish-brown.
- ‘Edith Bougue’ - to 35 ft × 20 ft (11 × 6 m), vigorous, considered one of the hardiest selections, leaves glossy dark green and narrow.
- ‘Little Gem’ - to 20-25 ft × 10-15 ft (6-7.6 × 3-4.5 m), small and narrow, tends to grow as a shrub, can be trained as a tree, also used as a container plant, leaves and flowers smaller than species type.
- ‘Majestic Beauty’ - to 35-50 ft × 20 ft (11-15 × 6 m), pyramidal, dense, large flowers (about 30 cm wide), leaves large and thick.
- ‘Russet’ - to 80 ft × 20 ft (24 × 6 m), fast growing and narrow, dense, leaves narrow and wooly underside russet colored.
- ‘Samuel Sommer’ - to 40 ft × 30 ft (12 × 9 m), very large flowers, leaves large, dark glossy green, rusty red on the underside.
- ‘San Marino’ - to 25 ft × 20 ft (7.6 × 6 m), many small flowers (about 4 inches wide), dense foliage to the ground, can be grown as a large shrub.
- ‘St. Mary’ - to 20+ ft × 20 ft (6 m × 6 m), a dense shrub, can be trained to a small tree, a good container plant, produces many flowers, 20-25 cm wide.
- ‘Victoria’ - to 20 ft × 15 ft (6 × 4.5 m), leaves dark green, broad, reportedly hardy to -10o F. Sometimes reported as coming from Victoria, British Columbia, but Jacobson (1996) states that its origin is unknown and has been in commerce since the 1920s.
- grandiflora: large-flowered
- Corvallis: north side of Central Park
- Oregon State Univ. campus: northeast Sackett Hall.
Click image to enlarge
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plant habit
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leaves and flower bud
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plant habit, flowering
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leaves and flower
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leaves
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flower
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center of flower
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leaves and fruit
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immature fruit
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leaves and mature fruit
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trunk, bark
