I can’t recall where I first saw the Magnolia tree, but it was love at first sight! The trunk and limbs are very strong and resilient with a grey-greenish color. The limbs seem to have been designed and spaced by nature to attract kids who love to climb trees. Great white blossoms decorate this tree throughout summer and it holds its shiny green leaves the year round. There is no insect that will touch any part of the Magnolia, and the tree is not affected by disease that sometimes harms so many other trees.
In 1960, I set out two Magnolia trees at our Fort Worth home. Both trees have flourished through extreme Texas weather conditions, including one tornado. The largest of our Magnolias now stands 65 feet tall.
We take great pride in the beauty and comfort provided by the trees at our home. Shade and protection from wind, but also the trees provide a home for abundant wildlife, including many species of birds, squirrels, raccoons and possums. The peacefulness of relaxing among our trees is beyond compare.
E. M. Parten, Fort Worth
January 2008
Magnolia grandiflora L. Southern Magnolia
Native to the southeastern United States from coastal North Carolina south to central Florida and west to east Texas. Cultivated world-wide in temperate and subtropical regions.
Additional information and photos:
* Wikipedia
* Virginia Tech Dept. of Forestry
* Missouri Botanical Garden
* Magnoliagrandiflora.com (the tree has its own website!)
* Molecular phylogeny of the Magnoliaceae
About 210 extant species of Magnoliaceae are distributed in temperate and tropical Asia (two-thirds of the species) from the Himalayas to Japan and southeastward through the Malay Archipelago to the New Guinea area. The remainder of the family is found in the Americas with tropical elements extending to Brazil and the West Indies. Western North American species are all extinct. The closest living relatives of Magnolia grandiflora are M. schiedeana, M. tamaulipana, and M. guatemalensis from Mexico and Guatemala. The family apparently originated in the late Cretaceous period, about 70-80 million years ago, probably in the South American region.
The genus Magnolia was named by Linnaeus after the French botanist Pierre Magnol.
