Magnolia liliiflora

Flowers and leaves of purple magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora )

The purple magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora ) is a deciduous shrub and is native to China. These plant species in the genus Magnolia is widely planted as an ornamental tree, they gained special significance as a parent of the famous tulip magnolia.

Description

The Purple Magnolia is a deciduous shrub or small tree that reaches about five meters Height. The crown is often wide, the trunk curved short and irregular. The branches are light gray to brown and not hairy. The gray bark remains smooth even on thick stems.

The change-constant leaves are ten to twenty inches long and five to ten centimeters wide. The leaf shape is elliptical to obovate. The leaf tip is pointed, the leaf base cuneate. The color of the leaves is a dark green, they are on both sides smooth, occasionally pubescent in the bud. The petiole measures about half an inch.

Appear with the leaves in spring, the lightly scented flowers, spread over the summer there is a slight second flowering. The flowers unfold from solitary at the ends of the branches and buds reach ten to 13 centimeters in diameter. A single flower consists of nine ( occasionally up to 18 ) violet tepals that are brightly colored on the inside. The outer three tepals are smaller and tinged greenish. In the center of the flower there are numerous purple -red color of stamens and numerous stamps. The resulting cylindrical, three to five inches long Sammelbalgfrucht is first green and turn dark red to brown later. The seeds are surrounded by a red seed coat ( aril ).

The chromosome number is 2n = 4x = 76, the plants are tetraploid.

Distribution area

The purple magnolia native to China; on the one hand, she was there cultivated by man for a long time as an ornamental plant and spreads, on the other hand, the natural habitat by land use severely restricted. Thus, the initial distribution is unclear, a number of today's deposits come from cultivated plants from natural reserves are found in the south-central provinces of Hubei and Yunnan. The climate there is subtropical and humid. Due to decreasing size of the area is its stock as endangered viewed (VU A2c ).

Use

For a long time the Purple Magnolia is planted as an ornamental tree in East Asia. In 1790 it was introduced by the Duke of Portland from Japan to England. In Europe, it quickly became a popular ornamental shrub, 1820, she used Soulange - Bodin as a parent of the tulip magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana ). Today it is commercially available, especially in the cultivar ' Nigra '.

Varieties of the purple magnolia:

• ' Gracilis ' - 1807 Salisbury described as Magnolia gracilis, smaller in all parts than the species
• ' Holland Red' - flowers evenly colored dark and late flowering.
• 'Mini Mouse' - a newer Sore (1970), smaller in all parts than the species
• 'Nigra ' - named in 1861 by Veitch, says the original description of the inside and outside alike violet petals. The plants sold today under this name often do not match the.

Hybrids with the purple magnolia:

• M. acuminata × M. liliiflora achieved = M. × brooklynensis, 1954 by Evamaria Sperber at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
• M. campbellii × M. liliiflora, by Felix Jury from New Zealand were in the 1990s with this combination a number of hybrids obtained.
• M. denudata × M. liliiflora = M. × soulangeana, the famous tulip magnolia.
• M. stellata × M. liliiflora, at the U.S. National Arboretum quite a few varieties have been obtained as a result of the intersection of Francis and William deVos corsair.
• M. liliiflora × M. sprengeri, also by William Corsair there are some varieties of this intersection.
• M. liliiflora × ( M × veitchii ), the so-called " Gresham hybrids ", by D. Todd Gresham in 1955 achieved. About M. × veitchii, a cross between M. denudata and M. campbellii, the flower color and size of M. campbellii should combine with frost hardiness and flowers on young plants.

Systematics and botanical history

Within the genus Magnolia is the purple magnolia in the subgenus Yulania, filed there in the section and subsection Yulania. Related species include, for example campbellii Magnolia, Magnolia or Magnolia dawsoniana sargentiana. In previous classifications, a closer relationship was suspected with the North American cucumber magnolia.

A first description and illustration of the Purple Magnolia was published in 1712 by Engelbert Kaempfer and 1791 re-edited by Joseph Banks. Desrousseaux then described the plants shown scientifically and chose the name Magnolia liliiflora, the " Lily-flowered Magnolia". However, Banks had swapped their labels in the publication of Kaempfer's pictures so that Desrousseaux mistook the descriptions of Yulan Magnolia and Purple Magnolia. Also only using illustrations described Pierre Joseph Buc'hoz 1779 these two magnolias, he had three years earlier published a book with Chinese motifs. He called the Yulan Magnolia Lassonia quinquepeta. Unlike Kaempfer botanically correct illustrations are these related to " obviously Chinese impressionist art" ( " obviously Chinese impressionistic art "). James E. Dandy transferred this name in 1934 in the genus Magnolia, so as Magnolia quinquepeta, from 1950, but only as a synonym of Magnolia liliiflora. But Spongberg and other authors used from 1976 quinquepeta again until Meyer and McClintock 1987 swept out the numerous errors in Buc'hoz images, suggesting the names used today Magnolia liliiflora, with Kaempfer's figure as a type for use.