Magnolia liliiflora.
The Lily, Purple or Tulip Magnolia has been cultivated for hundred of years.
They can grow as a multi-stemmed shrub or a small tree up to 4 m high.
They may eventually form a wide clump.
The simple alternate leaves are elliptic to ovate or obovate.
They are up to 18 cm long and 12 cm wide with hairs along the veins on the lower surface.
Inflorescences are a single flower terminal on the main and side branches.
The flowers are profuse and appear with the foliage.
The erect slender buds open to star-shaped flowers up to 8 cm across.
The nine slender tepals are a creamy-white inside and pink to purple outside.
Magnolia x soulangeana.
This is a cross between M. denudata and M. liliiflora.
(M. denudata, known as the Lily tree or Jade orchid is a large shrub or small tree up to 10 m high
with creamy-white, cup or goblet-shaped flowers on bare branches.)
M. x soulangeana, the Saucer or Tulip tree is one of the most commonly seen Magnolias is Australia.
It grows as a large shrub or a low-branched tree up to 6 m high and 5 or 6 m wide.
The short ovate leaves are a glossy dark green.
The erect, tulip-shaped flowers appear before the leaves.
The tepals are white inside and the rose-pink outside is a deeper colour at the base.
There are many varieties including ‘Lennei’ and ‘Rustic Rubra’ that come in white, and shades of
pink, rose, burgundy and purple.
Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Lennei’.
The Saucer magnolia is a commonly grown deciduous plant up to around 8 m high.
It can grow as a wide, spreading shrub or a small multi-stemmed tree.
It has a rounded crown and dense, dark green foliage.
The solitary, terminal cup-shaped flowers are up to 12 cm across.
The wide, thick and fleshy tepals are concave.
They are a creamy-white inside and typically a pinkish-purple outside.
However the outside varies from almost white to nearly purple.
Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’
Also known as the Saucer Magnolia it is a deeper coloured version of Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Lennei’.
They are a large shrub or small tree up to 4.5 m high and 3.5 m wide.
The large oval leaves appear after the flowers.
The buds are densely covered in hairs.
The cup-shaped flowers are large with the tepals being white to pale pink inside.
The outer surface is a deep rose-red to reddish-purple and darker at the base.
‘Rustic Rubra’ is one of the deepest coloured of the hybrids.
Magnolia x loebneri.
This is a deciduous hybrid of Magnolia kobus and M. stellata.
It can be grown as a shrub or a single or multi-stemmed tree up to 6 m high.
The obovate leaves are up to 12 cm long.
Flowers appear on bare branches.
The star-shaped flowers have up to 15 narrow white tepals.
There are a number of hybrids including the late flowering ‘Merrill’.
The ‘Merrill’ tepals are white with flushes of pink at the base.
J.F.
