magnolia - Origin of the name Magnolia, Early references and descriptions, Nomenclature and classification, Selected species of Magnolia

A deciduous or evergreen shrub or tree native to E North America and E Asia; leaves often glossy; flowers generally large, cup-shaped, with several whorls of white or pink perianth segments; fruit an almost cone-like strobilus of many carpels. Many species are popular ornamentals. Various characteristics, including the construction of its flower and fruit, make them often regarded as the most primitive flowering plants. (Genus: Magnolia, 80 species. Family: Magnoliaceae.)

?Magnolia
Magnolia grandiflora (Southern magnolia) A large tree at Hemingway, South Carolina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Magnoliales Family: Magnoliaceae Genus: Magnolia L.
Species
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Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae.

The natural range of Magnolia species is rather scattered. Today many species of Magnolia and an ever increasing number of hybrids can also be found as ornamental trees in large parts of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Magnolias are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Giant Leopard Moth. Mississippi's state nickname is the "Magnolia State", because of the abundance of magnolias in the state.

Origin of the name Magnolia

In 1703 Charles Plumier (1646-1704) described a flowering tree from the island of Martinique in his Genera. He gave the species, that was locally known as 'Talauma', the genus name Magnolia, after Pierre Magnol. The English botanist William Sherard, who studied botany in Paris under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, a pupil of Magnol, was most probably the first after Plumier to adopt the genus name Magnolia. These were the first works after Plumier's Genera that used the name Magnolia, this time for some species of flowering trees from temperate North America.

Linnaeus, who was familiar with Plumier's Genera, adopted the genus name Magnolia in 1735 in his first edition of Systema naturae, without a description but with a reference to Plumier's work. As Linnaeus did never see a herbarium specimen (if there has ever been one) of Plumier's Magnolia and had only his description and a rather poor picture at hand, he must have taken it for the same plant as Catesby described in 1731 in his Natural history of Carolina and placed it in the synonymy of Magnolia virginiana var. foetida, the taxon now known as Magnolia grandiflora.

The species that Plumier originally named Magnolia was later described as Annona dodecapetala by Lamarck, and has since been named Magnolia plumieri and Talauma plumieri (and still a number of other names) but is now known as Magnolia dodecapetala.

Early references and descriptions

Magnolias have long been known and used in China. This work contains a drawing of a plant under the vernacular name Eloxochitl, that is almost certainly Magnolia dealbata (= Magnolia macrophylla subsp. To date, the species is known as Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay magnolia). So the first Magnolia had already found its way to Europe before Charles Plumier found his Talauma on Martinique and gave it the name Magnolia.

Nomenclature and classification

When Linnaeus took up Magnolia in his Species plantarum (1753), he created a lemma of only one species: Magnolia virginiana.

By the end of the 18th century, botanists and plant hunters exploring Asia began to name and describe the Magnolia species from China and Japan. The first Asiatic species to be described by western botanists were Magnolia denudata and Magnolia liliiflora, and Magnolia coco and Magnolia figo. Soon after that, in 1794, Carl Peter Thunberg collected and described Magnolia obovata from Japan and somewhere around that time Magnolia kobus was also first collected.

With the number of species increasing, the genus was divided into subgenus Magnolia, and subgenus Yulania. Magnolia contains the American evergreen species Magnolia grandiflora, which is of horticultural importance, especially in the United States, and Magnolia virginiana, the type species. Yulania contains several deciduous Asiatic species, like Magnolia denudata and Magnolia kobus that have become of horticultural importance in their own right and as parents in hybrids. Classified in Yulania, is also the American deciduous Magnolia acuminata (Cucumber tree), which has recently become very important as the parent that brings in the yellow flower colour in many new hybrids. Some species or groups of species have been isolated for a long time, while others could stay in close contact. To create divisions in the family (or even within the genus Magnolia), solely based upon morphological characters, has been proven to be a near impossible task

By the end of the 20th century, DNA sequencing had become available as a method of large scale research on phylogenetic relationships. What these studies all revealed was that genus Michelia and Magnolia subgenus Yulania were far more closely allied to each other than either one of them was to Magnolia subgenus Magnolia.

As nomenclature is supposed to reflect relationships, the situation with the species names in Michelia and Magnolia subgenus Yulania was undesirable. 1: to join Michela and Yulania species in a common genus, not being Magnolia (for which the name Michelia has priority); 2: to raise subgenus Yulania to generic rank, leaving Michelia names and subgenus Magnolia names untouched; and 3: to join Michelia with genus Magnolia into genus Magnolia s.l. Magnolia subgenus Magnolia can not be renamed because it contains Magnolia virginiana, the type species of the genus and of the family. Both subgenus Magnolia and subgenus Yulania include species of major horticultural importance, and a change of name would be very undesirable for many people. The same goes, mutatis mutandis, for the (former) genera Talauma and Dugandiodendron, which are then placed in subgenus Magnolia, and genus Manglietia, which could be joined with subgenus Magnolia or may even earn the status of an extra subgenus. Taxonomists who merge Michelia into Magnolia tend to merge these small genera into Magnolia s.l.

Selected species of Magnolia

Note: the following list only includes temperate species; Magnolia delavayi - Chinese evergreen magnolia Magnolia fraseri - Fraser magnolia Magnolia globosa - Globe magnolia Magnolia grandiflora - Southern magnolia Magnolia guatemalensis - Guatemalan magnolia Magnolia macrophylla - Bigleaf magnolia Magnolia macrophylla subsp. ashei - Ashe magnolia Magnolia macrophylla subsp. dealbata - Mexican bigleaf magnolia Magnolia nitida - Magnolia obovata - Japanese bigleaf magnolia Magnolia officinalis - Houpu magnolia Magnolia sieboldii - Siebold's magnolia Magnolia tripetala - Umbrella magnolia Magnolia virginiana - Sweetbay magnolia Magnolia wilsonii - Wilson's magnolia Magnolia subgenus Yulania: Anthers open by splitting at the sides. Magnolia acuminata - Cucumber tree Magnolia amoena - Magnolia biondii - Magnolia campbellii - Campbell's magnolia Magnolia cylindrica - Magnolia dawsoniana - Dawson's magnolia Magnolia denudata - Yulan magnolia Magnolia kobus - Kobushi magnolia Magnolia liliiflora - Mulan magnolia Magnolia salicifolia - Willow-leafed magnolia Magnolia sargentiana - Sargent's magnolia Magnolia sprengeri - Sprenger's magnolia Magnolia stellata - Star magnolia Magnolia zenii - Other Magnolia hodgsonii Magnolia sirindhorniae - Princess Sirindhorn's magnolia

Uses

In general, Magnolia is a genus which has attracted a lot of horticultural interest. Hybridisation has been immensely successful in combining the best aspects of different species to give plants which flower at an earlier age than the species themselves, as well as having more impressive flowers.

Gallery

An unripe Magnolia seedpod.

Magnolia x soulangeana flower.

References and external links

^ The number of species in the genus Magnolia depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera Talauma, Dugandiodendron, Manglietia, Michelia, Elmerrillia, Kmeria, Parakmeria, Pachylarnax (and a small number of monospecific genera) all belong within the same genus, Magnolia s.l. Magnolia plumieri (1788) was published on a later date by Schwartz, and is treated as a later synonym, as are Magnolia fatiscens (1817; Richard), Talauma caerulea (Jaume St-Hilaire 1805) and Magnolia linguifolia (1822). ^ Magnolia glauca has the same type specimen as Magnolia virginiana and as the latter is the first valid name, the species is now called Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay magnolia). foetida was renamed Magnolia grandiflora, which is legitimate as the epithet foetida only has priority in its rank of variety. Magnolia grandiflora is the Southern magnolia. Magnolia tripetala (Umbrella magnolia) and Magnolia acuminata (Cucumber tree) are still recognized as species to date. Dandy argued that these names had priority over the names by which both species had been known for over a century and hence from then on Magnolia denudata had to be named Magnolia heptapeta, Magnolia liliiflora should be changed into Magnolia quinquepeta. After a lengthy debate, specialist taxonomists decided that the Buc'hoz names were based on chimaeras (pictures constructed of elements of different species), and as Buc'hoz did not cite or preserve herbarium specimens, his names were ruled not to be acceptable. Magnolia figo was soon after transferred to the genus Michelia. ^ Magnolia kobus only received its name in 1814, when it was validly published by A.P. in 2004 even 16, in Magnolias of China. Magnolias and their allies. Magnolias of China.