Magnolia grandiflora is a large evergreen tree which will grow 30 meters tall and 1.8 meters in trunk diameter. Alternate, simple leaves, each 10-20 cm long, oval-oblong tapering at both ends. Stiff, leathery, shiny-green above and rusty-tomentose beneath. Covered with rust colored hairs when young, but become smooth and stay rusty with age. Each 17.5 to 20 cm across with 6 to 12 petals which are creamy white. Each flower is on a stout hairy stalk. They are very fragrant and appear in late spring and early summer.
Fruit is cylindrical cone 7.5-10 cm long, purplish, turning rusty-brown with bright red, shiny seeds hanging from filamentous threads when mature in September and October. Gray to brown coloring, smooth when young but becomes lightly furrowed into close, flat plates or scales. Bark is fragrant and bitter.
The seeds of Magnolia grandiflora are consumed by many species of birds and small mammals. The leathery green leaves and beautiful flowers are used in decorating and floral arrangements. Although beautiful, the Magnolia grandiflora is a high maintenance tree because it drops foilage throughout the year. The wood is limited in its uses but may be made into furniture, paneling, veneer, creates, and cabinets.
The genus Magnolia was named by Linnaeus in honor of Pierre Magnol, who was the physician of King Louis XIV of France and was the director of a botanical garden at Montpellier. Magnolia grandiflora is relatively common and is native in North America. It occurs from North Carolina to Florida to Texas. Although its native range is along the Coastal Plain, it can be seen as an ornamental tree throughout much of the Southeast, inland as far as the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Flowers bloom from april to june, but in general the trees do not begin blooming until their seventh year, once their growth rate has decreased. Fruits mature in october to november and produce scarlett seeds.
According to geologists, magnolia trees have been on earth for 80 to 100 million years. The ancestors of the magnolias were growing in the time of the dinosaurs. The magnolia is a very primitive type of flower because all the floral parts are spirally arranged. In the center of the magnolia blossom, numberous pistils spiral about a cone shaped receptacle, and below them a great many stamens are similarly arranged. The pistils mature into a tight cluster of fruits and each individual fruit splits along one side. This releases 1 to 2 fleshy, scarlett-coated seeds which dangle on slender threads. This morphology is what leads geologists and botanists to the conclusion that magnolias are an ancient tree.
