The southeastern United States is the center of the natural range for all of North America’s wild magnolias, and late spring is their time to bloom. We particularly look forward to the fantastic blossoms of Ashe’s magnolia (Magnolia ashei) and pyramid magnolia (Magnolia pyramidata). These two unusual magnolias both have extremely large, beautifully fragrant flowers, But these are just two of the interesting group of plants.There are eight native magnolia species growing throughout the eastern United States. Their natural habitats range from coastal lowland forests to the Appalachian Mountains. Unlike their Asian cousins that bloom in early spring, our native magnolias bloom in late spring and early summer; therefore, losing their flowers to frost damage is never a real concern with the native eight as it is with the early flowering Asian magnolias. They don’t, however, have the color range of the Asian magnolia. Native magnolia flowers are generally some tone of white: creamy yellow, greenish, or pure white. The Ashe’s magnolia flowers, for example, have pink or purple markings inside the flower, but the overall color is still white. Almost all magnolia flowers are heavily perfumed, and a number of species have remarkably large flowers a also.
These intriguing trees are part of the oldest flowering plant family living today, with relatives that grew alongside the dinosaurs. Their flowers give a hint to their primitive ancestry as they don’t have distinct numbers of petals, stamens, and ovaries. The floral parts are spirally arranged with numerous male stamens around the female carpels. The fruit is cone-like and can be quite colorful when their bright red seeds slowly emerge out of the cone.
There are eight species of Magnolia native to the United States. The cucumber-tree (Magnolia acuminata) is one of the tallest magnolias and it occurs naturally as far north as Canada; the very rare Ashe’s magnolia (M. ashei) hails from the Florida panhandle; mountain magnolia (M. fraseri) is fairly abundant throught the Appalachian Mountains and the upper piedmont; the southern magnolia (M. grandiflora) is a large tree growing to 100 feet tall and has dark green evergreen leaves. Bigleaf magnolia (M. macrophylla) has tremendous leaves, up to 45 inches long, and the largest flower of any plant species native to the U.S.; pyramid magnolia (M. pyramidata) grows naturally in the southeastern coastal plain and sports extremely showy, bright red fruits in August; umbrella-tree (M. tripetala) is often multi-trunked and is unique among our magnolias in having flowers with a bad odor; and finally, swamp magnolia (M. virginiana ) is a medium sized tree with a wide range extending from the coastal areas and low woods from New York all the way to Texas. Late spring and early summer is the time to get out and discover our native magnolias.
Bookmark Me
