The Southern Magnolia, also called "Evergreen Magnolia" or "Bull Bay," is one of the most beautiful native trees, with evergreen leathery leaves, straight trunk, conical crown, and very large, very fragrant, showy white flowers. Planted around the world in warm temperate and subtropical climates, it is a popular ornamental and shade tree in parks, gardens and yards. Several horticultural varieties have been developed.

Southern Magnolia grows principally on the Coastal Plain of the Southeast, but is hardy north to Philadelphia. It grows on lowlands, never above 600 feet altitude, along margins of ponds and swamps, on hammocks and low rolling hills. It reaches its best growth and greatest size on rich, moist, well-drained soil.

Southern Magnolia does not occur in pure stands, but grows in association with other hardwoods, mainly sweet gum, tulip tree, white ash, and American beech. Seeds are shed in the fall, and eaten by turkey, quail, seed-eating birds, squirrels, opposums, mice, and chipmunks, yet the trees have limited wildlife value.

Southern Magnolia wood is hard, heavy and white, but turns brown after exposure to air. It is used in limited amounts for furniture, baskets and crates. The dried leaves are used by florists in decorations.

Identification

Size: large trees, 65 to 80 feet high (rarely 100 feet), with broad pyramidal shape and cone-shaped crown; trunk tall, straight, 2 to 3 feet in diameter (rarely 5 feet)

Range: eastern North Carolina south to central Florida, and west to east Texas; under 60 foot altitude

Habitat: lowlands and valleys with rich, moist, well-drained forest soils along margins of swamps and ponds, hammocks, low rolling hills, with various other hardwoods

Leaves: evergreen, large, leathery, smooth, dark shiny green above, pale with reddish rust-covered hairs underneath, 3 to 8 inches long, 2 to 5 inches wide, usually broadest at middle, tapering to base and tip (oblong or elliptical), wide edges slightly turned under; leafstalks stout, .4 to 1.2 inches long, usually covered with hairs, stipules free

Flowers appear in spring (May-June), large, showy, fragrant, with 9 to 14 conspicuous petal-like structures, thick, fleshy, white to creamy white, broadest at base, broadly spoon-shaped, rounded at tip, 3-5 inches, 2 to 4 inches wide, stamens numerous, clustered together in a central cone covered with silvery hairs

Fruit: dry, cone-like, sept.-Oct., broadest at base and tapering to blunt tip (egg-shaped), green turning rusty-brown, hairy, 2 to 4 inches long, composed of many separate short-pointed 2-seeded fruits that split open in early autumn

Seeds: .4 to .5 inches long, kidney-shaped, covered with bright red skin

Bark: thin, .5 to .7 inch thick, dark gray or brown, smooth, becoming rough, furrowed with many small scaly plates

Branches: stout, covered with dense rust-colored hairs, becoming smooth with age and turning dark brownish-black

Twigs covered with rust-colored hairs when young, with ring scars at nodes, ending in buds

Buds: broadest near base, tapering to rounded point, 1 to 1.5 inches long, covered with dense, light, rust-colored hairs

Wood: hard, heavy, white, but turns brown with exposure to air

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Champion Trees and Ancient Forests — www.championtrees.org — updated: 7/14/2002