Magnolia (plant)

Magnolia (plant), common name for a small family of woody flowering plants, and for its representative genus. The family contains 12 genera and about 220 species. Among the magnolia woods, the light, soft, yellow-colored timber of the tulip tree is one of the most valuable in the United States; it is used widely as veneers, in mill work, and in papermaking. The tulip tree, which can reach more than 46 m (more than 150 ft) in height, is also a valuable ornamental. Members of the representative genus are cultivated for their showy flowers. The well-known evergreen, or southern, magnolia is planted in areas with warm climates, although it is native only to a narrow coastal strip in the southeastern United States. Of some 80 other species, 6 of which are native to North America, most of the cultivated species and their many hybrid varieties are deciduous, losing their leaves in the fall and producing showy flowers each spring before new leaves appear.

The family belongs to an order that includes more species exhibiting primitive and archaic characteristics than any other. Most members are tropical, although several Temperate Zone groups are important in horticulture and as sources of timber. All members of the order are woody, and most are small to medium-size trees. With a few exceptions, they have conspicuous or even showy flowers with the flower parts (sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels) unfused and arranged in spirals on an axis. The stamens (male flower parts) are broad and leaflike, and the carpels (female flower parts) may also exhibit their origin as modified leaves. In addition to these features, the abundant aromatic oils, wood with simple water-conducting cells, and seeds with small embryos point to the antiquity of the order. Many members of the order are pollinated by beetles, another indication of the order's closeness to the ancestral line of flowering plants.

The order contains 10 families and about 3000 species, about two-thirds of which are in the custard apple family. The only other family of economic importance is the nutmeg family, with about 400 species.

Scientific classification: Magnolias make up the family Magnoliaceae of the order Magnoliales. The representative genus is Magnolia. The tulip tree is classified as Liriodendron tulipifera and the evergreen magnolia as Magnolia grandiflora.