Magnolia Temporal range: | |
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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 | |
| |
Diversity | |
210 to 340 species | |
Synonyms [1] | |
List
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Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 to 340 [a] 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 (mya), and fossils of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae date to 95 mya. [2] They are theorized to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles as they existed prior to the evolution of bees. [3] 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.
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Mature magnolia fruit just starting to open, with a few seeds visible |
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. [4]
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 often damaged by pollinating beetles. [5]
The fruit dehisces along the dorsal sutures of the carpels. The pollen is monocolpate, and the embryonic development is of the Polygonum type.[ citation needed ] Taxonomists, including James E. Dandy in 1927, have used differences in the fruits of Magnoliaceae as the basis for classification systems. [6]
The name Magnolia first appeared in 1703 in the Genera [7] written by French botanist Charles Plumier, for a flowering tree from the island of Martinique (talauma). It was named after French botanist Pierre Magnol. 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 [8] and of Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. [9] 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 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck [10] and has since been named Magnolia plumieri and Talauma plumieri (among a number of other names), but is now known as Magnolia dodecapetala. [b]
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 describes 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 Mark 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 describes five varieties (glauca, fœtida, grisea, tripetala, and acuminata). In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae (1759), he merges grisea with glauca and raises the four remaining varieties to species status. [c]
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 , [d] Magnolia coco, and Magnolia figo . [e] 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. [11]
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.[ citation needed ]
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. [f]
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. [12] [13] [14] 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. [15]
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:
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.[ citation needed ]
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 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. [16] The western co-author favors the big genus Magnolia, whereas the Chinese recognize the different small genera.
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. [17]
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. [18] [19] 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. [20]
| M. subg. Magnolia (not monophyletic) M. subg. Gynopodium M. subg. Yuliana |
The table below compares the 2012 and 2020 classifications. (The circumscriptions of the corresponding taxa may not be the same.)
Figlar (2012) [18] | Wang et al. (2020) [20] | |
---|---|---|
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 |
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. [g]
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.
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 [ citation needed ]. 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 M. 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. [26] [27]
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. [28] [29]
The cucumbertree, M. acuminata, grows to large size and is harvested as a timber tree in northeastern U.S. 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.[ citation needed ]
The aromatic bark contains magnolol, honokiol, 4-O-methylhonokiol, and obovatol. [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] Magnolol [36] and honokiol [37] activate the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma.
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.
The Magnoliaceae are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: Magnolia and Liriodendron.
Liriodendron is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae).
Liriodendron tulipifera—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron. It is native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario and possibly southern Quebec to west to Illinois, and east to southwestern Massachusetts, then south to central Florida and Louisiana.
Magnolia virginiana, most commonly known as sweetbay magnolia, or merely sweetbay, is a member of the magnolia family, Magnoliaceae. It was the first magnolia to be scientifically described under modern rules of botanical nomenclature, and is the type species of the genus Magnolia; as Magnolia is also the type genus of all flowering plants (magnoliophytes), this species in a sense typifies all flowering plants.
Magnolia grandiflora, commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to central Florida, and west to East Texas. Reaching 27.5 m (90 ft) in height, it is a large, striking evergreen tree, with large, dark-green leaves up to 20 cm long and 12 cm wide, and large, white, fragrant flowers up to 30 cm (12 in) in diameter.
Michelia is a historical genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Magnoliaceae. The genus included about 50 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical south and southeast Asia (Indomalaya), including southern China. Today it is regarded as a synonym and section of the genus Magnolia.
Magnolia denudata, the lilytree or Yulan magnolia, is native to central and eastern China. It has been cultivated in Chinese Buddhist temple gardens since 600 AD. Its flowers were regarded as a symbol of purity in the Tang dynasty and it was planted in the grounds of the emperor's palace. It is the official city flower of Shanghai.
Magnolia figo is an evergreen tree in the magnolia genus. It grows to 3–4 metres tall. It is native to China.
Liriodendron chinense is Asia's native species in the genus Liriodendron. This native of central and southern China grows in the provinces of Anhui, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan, and also locally in northern Vietnam. Protected populations occur in the Tianmushan National Reserve, Huangshan, Wuyi Shan, and Badagongshan Nature Reserve.
Magnolia champaca, known in English as champak, is a large evergreen tree in the family Magnoliaceae. It was previously classified as Michelia champaca. It is known for its fragrant flowers, and its timber used in woodworking.
Magnolia dixonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. It is known commonly as cucharillo.
Magnolia sect. Talauma is a section of the genus Magnolia in the family Magnoliaceae. It was formerly treated as the separate genus Talauma. It contains only New World species, and is native to Mexico, Panama, Brazil, and the West Indies.
Magnolia neillii is a species of plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. If the Magnolia family is treated as consisting of a large number of smaller genera, then this species is placed in genus Talauma. In modern literature, it is customary to treat Magnolia as one large genus, and in that case, this species is treated as belonging to section Talauma in subgenus Magnolia.
Magnolia × soulangeana, the saucer magnolia or sometimes the tulip tree, is a hybrid flowering plant in the genus Magnolia and family Magnoliaceae. It is a deciduous tree with large, early-blooming flowers in various shades of white, pink, and purple. It is one of the most commonly used magnolias in horticulture, being widely planted in the British Isles, especially in the south of England; and in the United States, especially the east and west coasts.
Magnolia × alba, also known as the white champaca, white sandalwood, or white jade orchid tree, is a flowering plant of hybrid origin that is commonly cultivated in Southeast Asia and tropical regions of East Asia. Although the exact origin is uncertain, it is considered to be a hybrid of Magnolia champaca and Magnolia montana.
James Edgar Dandy was a British botanist, Keeper of Botany at the British Museum between 1956 and 1966. He was a world specialist on the plant genus Potamogeton and the family Magnoliaceae.
Magnolia liliifera, commonly known as egg magnolia, is a flowering tree native to the Indomalayan realm. It bears white to cream-colored flowers on terminal stems. The leaves are elliptical and get as large as 25 cm (10 in) long and 8 cm (3 in) wide. The tree ranges in height from 3.5 to 18.5 m in situ.
Magnolia nilagirica is a species of plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is a tree that is threatened by habitat loss, endemic to the Western Ghats of India, and also Sri Lanka.
Magnolia macclurei is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae, native to southern China, including Hainan, and northern Vietnam. A tree reaching 30 m (98 ft), it is found growing in evergreen broadleaf forests, from 200 to 1,500 m above sea level.
Magnolia maudiae, the smiling monkey forest tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is native to southern China, including Hainan. A shrubby tree occasionally reaching 20 m (66 ft) in the wild, it is found growing in evergreen broadleaf forests from 600 to 1,500 m above sea level. A well-shaped evergreen species, it blooms early with heavily fragrant white flowers, and has attractive bluish-green leaves. It is used as a street tree in southern Chinese cities.
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