Magnolia

This article is about the plant genus. For other uses, see Magnolia (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Mongolia.

Magnolia Temporal range:
Magnolia sieboldii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Magnoliales
Family:	Magnoliaceae
Genus:	Magnolia L.
Type species
Magnolia virginiana L.
Subgenera
Magnolia Yulania Gynopodium
Diversity
210 to 340 species
Synonyms
List Alcimandra Dandy Aromadendron Blume Blumia Nees ex Blume Buergeria Siebold & Zucc. Champaca Adans. Dugandiodendron Lozano Elmerrillia Dandy Guillimia Rchb. Gwillimia Rottler ex DC. Houpoea N.H.Xia & C.Y.Wu Kmeria Dandy Kobus Kaempf. ex Salisb. Lassonia Buc'hoz Lirianthe Spach Liriopsis Spach Manglietia Blume Manglietiastrum Y.W.Law Metamagnolia Sima & S.G.Lu Michelia L. Micheliopsis H.Keng Oyama (Nakai) N.H.Xia & C.Y.Wu Pachylarnax Dandy Parakmeria Hu & W.C.Cheng Paramagnolia Sima & S.G.Lu Paramanglietia Hu & W.C.Cheng Paramichelia Hu Sampacca Kuntze Santanderia Cespedes ex Triana & Planch. Sinomanglietia Z.X.Yu Sphenocarpus Wall. Svenhedinia Urb. Talauma A.Juss. Tsoongiodendron Chun Tulipastrum Spach Woonyoungia Y.W.Law Yulania Spach

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 to 340 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. The natural range of Magnolia species is disjunct, with a main center in east, south and southeast Asia and a secondary center in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species in South America.

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Fossilized specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and fossils of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae date to 95 million years ago. They are theorized to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles as they existed prior to the evolution of bees. Another aspect of Magnolia considered to represent an ancestral state is that the flower bud is enclosed in a bract rather than in sepals; the perianth parts are undifferentiated and called tepals rather than distinct sepals and petals. Magnolia shares the tepal characteristic with several other flowering plants near the base of the flowering plant lineage, such as Amborella and Nymphaea (as well as with many more recently derived plants, such as Lilium).

The magnolia was made the state flower of Mississippi in 1900. The magnolia symbolizes stability in the United States; in China beauty and gentleness. Overall, the magnolia symbolizes everlasting connections.

Description

Stereo image
Left frame
Right frame
Parallel view ()
Cross-eye view ()
Mature magnolia fruit just starting to open, with a few seeds visible

An anatomical diagram of the flower of Magnolia biondii.

Magnolia seeds and fruit on a tree in northern Argentina

Magnolias are spreading evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs characterised by large fragrant flowers, which may be bowl-shaped or star-shaped, in shades of white, pink, purple, green, or yellow. In deciduous species, the blooms often appear before the leaves in spring. Cone-like fruits are often produced in the autumn.

As with all Magnoliaceae, the perianth is undifferentiated, with 9–15 tepals in three or more whorls. The flowers are hermaphroditic, with numerous adnate carpels and stamens arranged in a spiral fashion on the elongated receptacle. The flowers' carpels are extremely tough to avoid damage from pollinating beetles.

The fruit dehisces along the dorsal sutures of the carpels. The pollen is monocolpate, and the embryonic development is of the Polygonum type.

Taxonomists, including James E. Dandy in 1927, have used differences in the fruits of Magnoliaceae as the basis for classification systems.

Magnolia × soulangeana

Taxonomy

History

Early

Magnolia grandiflora

Magnolia flowers in Wiesbaden, Germany

Flower bud

The name Magnolia first appeared in 1703 in the Genera written by French botanist Charles Plumier (1646–1704), for a flowering tree from the island of Martinique (talauma). It was named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol. The English botanist William Sherard, who studied botany in Paris under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, a pupil of Magnol, was most probably the first after Plumier to adopt the genus name Magnolia. He was at least responsible for the taxonomic part of Johann Jacob Dillenius's Hortus Elthamensis and of Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. These were the first works after Plumier's Genera that used the name Magnolia, this time for some species of flowering trees from temperate North America. The species that Plumier originally named Magnolia was later described as Annona dodecapetala by Lamarck, and has since been named Magnolia plumieri and Talauma plumieri (among a number of other names), but is now known as Magnolia dodecapetala.

Carl Linnaeus, who was familiar with Plumier's Genera, adopted the genus name Magnolia in 1735 in his first edition of Systema Naturae, without a description but with a reference to Plumier's work. In 1753, he took up Plumier's Magnolia in the first edition of Species Plantarum. There he described a monotypic genus, with the sole species being Magnolia virginiana. Since Linnaeus never saw a herbarium specimen (if there ever was one) of Plumier's Magnolia and had only his description and a rather poor picture at hand, he must have taken it for the same plant that was described by Catesby in his 1730 Natural History of Carolina. He placed it in the synonymy of Magnolia virginiana var. fœtida, the taxon now known as Magnolia grandiflora. Under Magnolia virginiana, Linnaeus described five varieties (glauca, fœtida, grisea, tripetala, and acuminata). In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae (1759), he merged grisea with glauca and raised the four remaining varieties to species status.

By the end of the 18th century, botanists and plant hunters exploring Asia had begun to name and describe the Magnolia species from China and Japan. The first Asiatic species to be described by western botanists were Magnolia denudata, Magnolia liliiflora, Magnolia coco, and Magnolia figo. Soon after that, in 1794, Carl Peter Thunberg collected and described Magnolia obovata from Japan, and roughly at the same time, Magnolia kobus was also first collected.

Recent

With the number of species increasing, the genus was divided into two subgenera, Magnolia and Yulania. Magnolia contains the American evergreen species M. grandiflora, which is of horticultural importance, especially in the southeastern United States, and M. virginiana, the type species. Yulania contains several deciduous Asiatic species, such as M. denudata and M. kobus, which have become horticulturally important in their own right and as parents in hybrids. Classified in Yulania is also the American deciduous M. acuminata (cucumber tree), which has recently attained greater status as the parent responsible for the yellow flower color in many new hybrids.

Relations in the family Magnoliaceae have puzzled taxonomists for a long time. Because the family is quite old and has survived many geological events (such as ice ages, mountain formation, and continental drift), its distribution has become scattered. Some species or groups of species have been isolated for a long time, while others could stay in close contact. To create divisions in the family (or even within the genus Magnolia) solely based upon morphological characters has proven to be a nearly impossible task.

By the end of the 20th century, DNA sequencing had become available as a method of large-scale research on phylogenetic relationships. Several studies, including studies on many species in the family Magnoliaceae, were carried out to investigate relationships. What these studies all revealed was that the genus Michelia and Magnolia subgenus Yulania were far more closely allied to each other than either one of them was to Magnolia subgenus Magnolia. These phylogenetic studies were supported by morphological data.

As nomenclature is supposed to reflect relationships, the situation with the species names in Michelia and Magnolia subgenus Yulania was undesirable. Taxonomically, three choices are available:

1. to join Michelia and Yulania species in a common genus, not being Magnolia (for which the name Michelia has priority);
2. to raise subgenus Yulania to generic rank, leaving Michelia names and subgenus Magnolia names untouched, or;
3. to join Michelia with the genus Magnolia into the genus Magnolia s.l. (a big genus).

Magnolia subgenus Magnolia cannot be renamed because it contains M. virginiana, the type species of the genus and of the family.

Not many Michelia species have so far become horticulturally or economically important, apart from their wood. Both subgenus Magnolia and subgenus Yulania include species of major horticultural importance, and a change of name would be very undesirable for many people, especially in the horticultural branch. In Europe, Magnolia is even more or less a synonym for Yulania, since most of the cultivated species on this continent have Magnolia (Yulania) denudata as one of their parents. Most taxonomists who acknowledge close relations between Yulania and Michelia therefore support the third option and join Michelia with Magnolia.

The same goes, mutatis mutandis, for the (former) genera Talauma and Dugandiodendron, which are then placed in subgenus Magnolia, and genus Manglietia, which could be joined with subgenus Magnolia or may even earn the status of an extra subgenus. Elmerrillia seems to be closely related to Michelia and Yulania, in which case it will most likely be treated in the same way as Michelia is now. The precise nomenclatural status of small or monospecific genera like Kmeria, Parakmeria, Pachylarnax, Manglietiastrum, Aromadendron, Woonyoungia, Alcimandra, Paramichelia, and Tsoongiodendron remains uncertain. Taxonomists who merge Michelia into Magnolia tend to merge these small genera into Magnolia s.l. as well. Botanists do not yet agree on whether to recognize a big Magnolia or the different small genera. For example, Flora of China offers two choices: a large genus Magnolia, which includes about 300 species and everything in the Magnoliaceae except Liriodendron (tulip tree), or 16 different genera, some of them recently split out or re-recognized, each of which contains up to 50 species. The western co-author favors the big genus Magnolia, whereas the Chinese recognize the different small genera.

Fossil record

Fossils assignable to Magnolia extend into the Paleogene, such as Magnolia nanningensis, named for mummified wood from the Oligocene of Guangxi, China, which has a close affinity to members of the modern section Michelia.

Subdivision

See also: List of Magnolia species

In 2012, the Magnolia Society published on its website a classification of the genus produced by Richard B. Figlar, based on a 2004 classification by Figlar and Hans Peter Nooteboom. Species of Magnolia were listed under three subgenera, 12 sections, and 13 subsections. Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have led to some revisions of this system; for example, the subgenus Magnolia was found not to be monophyletic. A revised classification in 2020, based on a phylogenetic analysis of complete chloroplast genomes, abandoned subgenera and subsections, dividing Magnolia into 15 sections. The relationships among these sections are shown in the following cladogram, as is the paraphyletic status of subgenus Magnolia.

Clade I M. sect. Splendentes M. sect. Talauma M. sect. Gwillimia Clade II Clade A M. sect. Tuliparia M. sect. Macrophylla Clade B M. sect. Magnolia M. sect. Oyama M. sect. Rytidospermum  M. sect. Manglietia Clade C M. sect. Kmeria M. sect. Gynopodium M. sect. Tulipastrum M. sect. Yuliana M. sect. Maingola M. sect. Michelia

M. subg. Magnolia (not monophyletic) M. subg. Gynopodium M. subg. Yuliana

The table below compares the 2012 and 2020 classifications. (The exact circumscriptions of the corresponding taxa may not be the same.)

Comparison of two classifications of Magnolia

Figlar (2012)		Wang et al. (2020)
Section	Subsection	Section
Talauma	Dugandiodendron	Splendentes
	Cubenses
	Talauma	Talauma
Gwillimia	Gwillimia	Gwillimia
	Blumiana
Auriculata		Tuliparia
Macrophylla		Macrophylla
Magnolia		Magnolia
Rhytidospermum	Oyama	Oyama
	Rhytidospermum	Rytidospermum
Manglietia		Manglietia
Kmeria		Kmeria
Gynopodium		Gynopodium
Manglietiastrum
Yulania	Yulania	Yulania
	Tulipastrum	Tulipastrum
Michelia	Maingola	Maingola
	Aromadendron
	Michelia	Michelia
	Elmerrillia

Uses

Flowering Magnolia figo 'Purple Queen'

M. × wieseneri

Horticultural uses

Star magnolia from botanical gardens, Halifax, Nova Scotia

In general, the genus Magnolia has attracted horticultural interest. Some, such as the shrub M. stellata (star magnolia) and the tree M. × soulangeana (saucer magnolia) flower quite early in the spring, before the leaves open. Others flower in late spring or early summer, including M. virginiana (sweetbay magnolia) and M. grandiflora (southern magnolia). The shape of these flowers lend themselves to the common name tulip tree that is sometimes applied to some Magnolia species.

Hybridisation has been immensely successful in combining the best aspects of different species to give plants which flower at an earlier age than the parent species, as well as having more impressive flowers. One of the most popular garden magnolias, M. × soulangeana, is a hybrid of M. liliiflora and M. denudata.

In the eastern United States, five native species are frequently in cultivation: M. acuminata (as a shade tree), M. grandiflora, M. virginiana, M. tripetala, and M. macrophylla. The last two species must be planted where high winds are not a frequent problem because of the large size of their leaves.

Culinary uses

The flowers of many species are considered edible. In parts of England, the petals of M. grandiflora are pickled and used as a spicy condiment. In some Asian cuisines, the buds are pickled and used to flavor rice and scent tea. In Japan, the young leaves and flower buds of Magnolia hypoleuca are broiled and eaten as a vegetable. Older leaves are made into a powder and used as seasoning; dried, whole leaves are placed on a charcoal brazier and filled with miso, leeks, daikon, and shiitake, and broiled. There is a type of miso which is seasoned with magnolia, hoba miso.

Traditional medicine

Magnolia tree in full bloom

Magnolia tree in Kenosha

Magnolia tree in the Fall.

The bark and flower buds of M. officinalis have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine, where they are known as hou po (厚朴). In Japan, kōboku, M. obovata, has been used in a similar manner.

Timber

The cucumbertree, M. acuminata, grows to large size and is harvested as a timber tree in northeastern US forests. Its wood is sold as "yellow poplar" along with that of the tuliptree, Liriodendron tulipifera. The Fraser magnolia, M. fraseri, also attains enough size sometimes to be harvested, as well.

Other uses

Magnolias are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the giant leopard moth.

Chemical compounds and bioeffects

The aromatic bark contains magnolol, honokiol, 4-O-methylhonokiol, and obovatol. Magnolol and honokiol activate the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma.

Culture

Symbols

• White or Yulan magnolia (subgenus Yulania) is the official flower of the Chinese metropolis Shanghai.
• Magnolia grandiflora is the official state flower of both Mississippi and Louisiana. The flower's abundance in Mississippi is reflected in its nickname of "Magnolia State" and the state flag. The magnolia is also the official state tree of Mississippi. One of the many nicknames for the city of Houston is "Magnolia City". Historically, magnolias have been associated with the Southern United States.
• Magnolia sieboldii is the national flower of North Korea and the Gangnam District of Seoul.

Arts

Film and television

• Paul Thomas Anderson created a movie titled Magnolia.
• Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film about the bond among a group of women from Louisiana, who can be as beautiful as magnolias, but are as tough as steel. The name 'magnolia' specifically refers to a magnolia tree about which they are arguing at the beginning.
• Sweet Magnolias is a 2020 Netflix Original Series
• A Magnolia tree was cultivated by the vampire Armand in the first and second seasons of the TV show “ Interview with the Vampire”, produced by AMC.

Music

• "Magnolia Wind" is a song by Shawn Camp and Guy Clark. It was first released on The Dark in 2002.
• The folksong "Bungong Jeumpa", from Aceh, Indonesia, means magnolia flower.
• The French song by Salvatore Adamo "Les collines de Rabiah" in the 1970s describes the magnolia trees in Beirut and calls for peace.
• The Grateful Dead recorded a song titled "Sugar Magnolia" that was first released on the 1970 album American Beauty. The song made its live debut on June 7, 1970, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. The semiofficial 1972 Dead movie Sunshine Daydream has its title taken from the song's coda section.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers second studio album You're Gonna Get It! includes a track called "Magnolia", written by Tom Petty.
• J.J. Cale (1938–2013) wrote a song about a woman named Magnolia, which has been covered by Poco, Beck and Lucinda Williams.
• "The Scent of Magnolia" is the first track in David Sylvian's compilation album, Everything and Nothing.
• In 2003, Songs: Ohia released The Magnolia Electric Co. This was the last release under that project's name for Jason Molina before renaming his band Magnolia Electric Co. after the album.
• "Magnolia" is the fifth track on Australian indie rock group Gang of Youths' debut album, The Positions.
• In his song titled "Marry Me" Thomas Rhett mentions the magnolia flower.
• In his song titled "Roller Coaster" Danny Vera mentions the magnolia flower.
• "The Sweet Magnolia Tree" is the eighth track on Doug Wamble's 2003 CD Country Libations.
• Singer-songwriter Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem included "Honey Magnolia" to his first solo debut album titled Painkillers released in March 2016.
• "Magnolia" is an album by progressive rock band The Pineapple Thief. It includes a track called "Magnolia".
• "Magnolia" is a song by Icelandic-Chinese jazz-pop singer Laufey, featured in her album "Typical of Me" released in April 2021

Literature

• The 1989 movie Steel Magnolias is based on a 1987 play, Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling.
• In the 1939 song "Strange Fruit", originally written as a poem by New York schoolteacher and communist activist Abel Meeropol to condemn the practice of lynching, the magnolia flower was referred to as being associated with the Southern United States, where many lynchings took place:

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Despite Meeropol's frequent mention of the South and magnolia trees, the horrific image which inspired his poem, Lawrence Beitler's 1930 photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith following the robbery and murder of Claude Deteer, was taken in Marion, Indiana, where magnolia trees are less common.

• In the 1960s, magnolias were a symbol of the South in the popular press: the New York Post noted of Lyndon Johnson that "A man who wore a ten-gallon Stetson and spoke with a magnolia accent had little hope of winning the Democratic nomination in 1960", and biographer Robert Caro picks up the symbol by saying that when Johnson became president "[t]he taint of magnolias still remained to be scrubbed off."

Visual arts

Magnolia by Sarah Maloney

The Canadian artist, Sarah Maloney, has created a series of sculptures of magnolia flowers in bronze and steel, entitled First Flowers, in which she draws our attention to the dual symbols of beginnings in the flower, as both an evolutionary archetype and also one of the first trees to flower in spring (see illustration).

See also

• List of AGM magnolias

References

Bibliography

• Johnstone, G.H. (1955). Asiatic Magnolias in cultivation. London: The Royal Horticultural Society.
• Kapil, R. N.; Bhandari, N. N. (1964). "Morphology and embryology of Magnolia Dill. ex Linn" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India. 30: 245–262. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2013.
• Callaway, D.J. (1994). The World of Magnolias. Portland, OR: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-236-6.
• Hunt, D., ed. (1998). Magnolias and their Allies. International Dendrology Society & Magnolia Society. ISBN 0-9517234-8-0.
• Law, Y.W. (= Liu, Y.H.) (2004). Magnolias of China. Hong-Kong: Beijing Science & Technology Press. ISBN 7-5304-2765-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Thien, Leonard B. (November–December 1974). "Floral biology of Magnolia". American Journal of Botany. 61 (10): 1037–1045. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1974.tb12321.x. JSTOR 2441921.
• Treseder, N.G. (1978). Magnolias. London; Boston, MA: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-09619-0.
• Cicuzza, D.; Newton, A.; Oldfield, S. (2007). The Red List of Magnoliaceae (PDF). Fauna & Flora International and Botanic Gardens (Report). Conservation International. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
• Xu, F.; Rudall, P. J. (April 2006). "Comparative floral anatomy and ontogeny in Magnoliaceae". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 258 (1–2): 1–15. Bibcode:2006PSyEv.258....1X. doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0361-1. S2CID 26125303.

External links

• Magnolia images at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Plant Image Database
• Friedman, William (Ned). "Hunting magnolia fruits at the Arboretum." Posts from the Collection, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University website, 20 October 2019. Accessed 29 April 2020.
• Dosmann, Michael and Nancy Rose. "Early to Evolve, Early to Flower: Collections Up Close Spotlights the Magnolia Collection." Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University website, Spring/Summer 2014. Accessed 29 April 2020.
• "Magnolia - April Tree of the Month." Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 2014. Accessed 29 April 2020.
• Glasser, Larissa. "Magnolia madness in April." Blog of the Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University website, 19 April 2017. Accessed 29 April 2020.
• "NCCPG National Magnolia Collection". Caerhays Castle Garden (UK).
• "Conserving threatened Magnolia species". Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2011-04-01. Background information, reports, images and related articles
• "Magnolia Society".
• "Magnolias Threatened by Logging, Development". NPR.org. National Public Radio.
• "Magnolia Trees". Extension. Selecting Trees for your Home. University of Illinois.
• "Magnolia" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.