Magnolia × soulangeana

Tulip magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana )

The tulip magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana ) is a hybrid of the genus Magnolia (Magnolia ) in the family Magnoliaceae ( Magnoliaceae ). It is a cross of Chinese Yulan magnolia (Magnolia denudata ) and those coming from East Asia also purple magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora ). The tulip magnolia is today in Central Europe most commonly planted magnolia, therefore it is also called simply as " Magnolia" without further addition.

Description

The tulip magnolia is a deciduous tree or large shrub, up to nine meters reaches a height. Typical of this intersection is a large canopy on a short and often crooked trunk. The bark of the trunk is initially smooth and changes with increasing age of the plant in a brown- gray with fine cracking bark.

The alternate, short -stalked leaves are twelve to 20 centimeters long and up to six inches wide. They are smooth-edged and on the top of a matte, fresh green color. On the underside of the leaves are slightly lighter and slightly hairy.

The flower buds in autumn; two silky hairy, bud scale-like bracts enclose. The flowers, because of this ornamental tree is planted, appear before the budding of the leaves in April to May. You are terminally and upright on the branches. Even after opening, they are still together inclined bell-shaped. The flower color varies depending on the variety from white to light pink to purple. Often the interior is brightly colored flowers, while the flowers are colored exterior and dark red-purple at the base. The three outer petals are small and somewhat greenish tinge, followed by six to twelve inner petals. In the center of the flower many red stamens and many pistils are arranged ( in an indefinite number ). From the purple magnolia, the tulip magnolia has inherited the property to sometimes generate more flowers during the summer.

Seeds are rarely developed, mostly the whole fruit stand still green axis falls off. It turns pink - red to maturity, if fertilization took place. In each Sammelbalgfrucht usually only a few follicles actually contain seeds. The red seeds hang out on long Samenfädchen from the follicle after maturity.

Garden Culture

The first crossing was achieved by Étienne Soulange - Bodin in 1820. The hybrids quickly became popular as ornamental tree, already about 1827 plants were first introduced to England. During the following time backcrosses were carried out with the parent- species, but also with other magnolias from the section Yulania over again. Today there is a wide range of varieties that are available in the characteristics between the parental species. They differ mainly in their flower color, bloom time and plant height. Among the best known varieties, however, still include some very old crossings:

• ' Amabilis ' - flowers white, bred in 1865 in France.
• ' Alexandrina ' - introduced in 1831 by Cels in Paris, corresponds to this variety with its white, red overcrowded from the bottom flowers the most common type in Europe.
• ' Lennéi ' - a named after the famous garden architect Peter Joseph Lenne variety. The flowers are dark purple on the outside thereof.
• ' Lennéi Alba' - this variety, however, has pure white petals.
• 'Picture ' - Petals dark purple on the outside, the flowers can be up to 35 centimeters in diameter in size. 1925 bred in Japan.
• ' Rustica Rubra ' - with small, quite dark red colored flowers and vigorous growth. Approximately 1893 achieved in the Netherlands.

As a garden plant the tulip magnolia needs a fresh, slightly acidic soil in sunny locations it blooms richest. Late frosts can destroy blossoms in the spring, otherwise the plant in Central Europe is very hardy. The Horticultural Propagation is by cuttings, specialized farms achieve a rooting rate close to 100 %.

Systematics and Genetics

Both parental species are now placed in the same subsection of the genus Magnolia: subsection Yulania in the subgenus Yulania. Formerly, the one parent, the Purple Magnolia, used for closer with the North American cucumber magnolia.

The Yulan Magnolia is hexaploid with a chromosome number of 6n = 114 Magnolia liliiflora is a tetraploid (4n = 76). Hybrids between the two can be pentaploid ( 5n = 95 ), by irregularities in mitosis but may incur higher or lower chromosome numbers. Since plants with higher chromosome numbers often have larger flowers, thicker petals and a higher growth potential, they were read and used to intersections. Although the hybrid Magnolia x soulangeana is usually sterile, but occasionally some seeds are produced that open the way to further hybrids with complicated and irregular sets of chromosomes. For example, the varieties ' Lennei ' 133, 'Picture ' and 143 ' Rustica Rubra ' have 156 chromosomes.

Sources and further information

The information in this article originate mainly from Callaway (1994) and Kelly, Hillier (1997), in addition, the following sources are cited: