Magnolia : Magnolia grandiflora


Kingdom : Plant
   Phylum : Magnoliophyta
          Class : Magnoliopsida
               Order : Magnolialea
                    Family : Magnoliaceae
                         Genus : Magnolia
                              Species : grandiflora L.
Common name: Southern magnolia

Description

Large evergreen tree. Thick, leathery leaves oblong to broadly elliptic, 1-3 dm long, .4-1.5 dm wide, dark green and glabrous above, rusty-tomentose below (rarely green), margins curled under.

Magnolia tree, Photo by David Byres Young twigs densely covered by brown felt-like pubescence. Flowers creamy white, large, cup shaped, 15-20 cm across, perianth parts 6-12, 5-10 cm long/ Perianth and stamens deciduous leaving prominent scares on the axis below the fruit. Fruit aggregate, cone-like, 6-10 cm long, seeds scarlet.


Habitat:

Swamp forests, maritime forest, low woods.

Distribution:

North Carolina along Atlantic coast to central Florida west through southern half of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and east Texas.


 Magnolia leaves, Photo by David Byres



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