Bigleaf Magnolia

Bigleaf Magnolia

== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2008 10:54 am
From: "Will Blozan"

Gary,

Check out Jess's and my report on Bankhead NF in Alabama.

Will

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2008 11:15 am
From: ForestRuss@aol.com

Gary:

It is a fairly common understory tree on some of the better cove sites in
central WV. The flower is incredibly large and very beautiful but it stinks
horribly. I had no idea how foul the smell of the flowers was until I picked a
blossom to take home to my wife...after about 200' of driving with it in a
closed pickup I had to put the blossom in a plastic bag...when I brought it
into the house it lasted about 30 seconds before it was displayed on our front
porch. The blossoms are amazing from the standpoint of their large size but
also because they last such a short while....barely 24 hours.

Russ

== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2008 6:43 pm
From: tsharp13@suddenlink.net

Russ: I believe the Magnolia we have here in central and southern West
Virginia is M. tripetala or Umbrella Magnolia. Of course a lot of
people call in West Virginia use the term Big Leaf when referring to
this specis but The only Big Leaf (M. macrophyla) have even seen in WV
has been planted. Turner Sharp

== 5 of 5 ==
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2008 8:52 pm
From: Beth Koebel

ENTS,

Lets not forget the northern most member of the
magnolia family, the tulip tree with its beautiful
greenish-yellow and orange "tulips".

Beth

"Information is moving--you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."
Washington DC, May 2, 2007 George W. Bush

== 2 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 5:23 am
From: ForestRuss@aol.com

Turner:

I just checked my copy of Brooks WV trees from 1920 and you are correct the
tree I have seen is Magnolia tripetala.

The only difference is that in the 1920 book it is referred to as a
streamside species. In the central part of the state it can commonly be found on
some of the very best growing sites.

Russ

== 3 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 5:27 am
From: pabigtrees

ENTS

Magnolia tripetala, Umbrella magnolia, is becoming more common in the
woods of Pennsylvania. Read invasive! Fairmount Park is covered with
it. I love the big leaf Magnolias. I have had trouble with M.
pyramidata. Doesn't seem to transplant easily. M. fraseri is cool
too. Has anyone run into M. ashei in the wild?

Scott

== 4 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 6:25 am
From: "Will Blozan"

Beth,

And of course the northernmost true magnolia, M. acuminata- cucumbertree. It
may also be the tallest and most voluminous magnolia.

Will

== 5 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 7:10 am
From: Beth Koebel

Will,

I did not know that the cucumbertree was the northern
most true magnolia.

Beth

== 7 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 8:46 am
From: "Edward Frank"

ENTS

Umbrella Magnolia is rare in Western PA. One occurrence is at Ohiopyle State Park in extreme southern PA.

"Located primarily in Fayette County, Ohiopyle State Park encompasses about 19,052 acres of rugged natural beauty and serves as the gateway to the Laurel Mountains. The focal point of the area is the more than 14 miles of the Youghiogheny River Gorge that passes through the heart of the park."

It and several other species were transported here via the northward flowing Youghiogheny River. It is a species Anthony Kelly and I hoped to document in the park a year ago, but without leaves if we saw it, we could not identify it, if we came across it at all.)

Ed

"Ferncliff Peninsula National Natural Landmark: Created by a meander in the Youghiogheny River, this 100-acre peninsula is a unique habitat that contains many rare and interesting plants. The northern-flowing Youghiogeny River picks up seeds in Maryland and West Virginia and deposits them at Ferncliff, north of their usual growing range. The deep gorge is slightly warmer than the surrounding area, which allows these southern refugees to survive. Recognized for its botanical diversity for over a century, in 1973 the 100-acre peninsula was declared a National Natural Landmark. In 1992, Ferncliff Peninsula was declared a State Park Natural Area which will protect it in a natural state."

== 8 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 10:26 am
From: abies2@u.washington.edu

Greetings,

Records in China indicate that M. campbellii is every bit as tall and voluminous as M. acuminata. Here on the west coast the two show similar horsepower.

Cheers,
- BVP

== 9 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 11:08 am
From: doug bidlack

ENTS,

there is also a famous population of sweetbay magnolia
(Magnolia virginiana) on Cape Ann in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. This appears to be as far, or nearly
as far north as the western New York populations of
cucumbertree magnolias.

Doug

== 11 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 6:07 pm
From: JamesRobertSmith

A few times, hiking in the Southern Apps, I came across these
absolutely enormous leaves. Just stunningly huge. These must have been
from cucumber trees. On several hikes. Can't recall the locations, but
I seem to have seen them in Panthertown Valley, which is certainly not
known for old trees.

== 12 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 6:39 pm
From: "Will Blozan"

James,

You are probably seeing leaves of Magnolia fraseri; Fraser magnolia. Their
leaves are much larger than cucumbertree. Look for the distinctive
"earlobes" at the base of the leaf. Cucumber leaves do not have the lobes;
hence the epithet of acuminata (?).

Here is a cucumber tree.

And here is a Fraser magnolia.

Will

== 13 of 13 ==
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2008 6:42 pm
From: Gary Smith

Scott, I'm thinking m. ashei can be found naturally growing in just a
small area of the SE. I'm thinking the northern FL, southern GA area,
but could be a little off.

I have seen it in one retail nursery in LA.

gs

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Bigleaf Magnolia.....anyone else love this
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/2eb941671d1cae65?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Sun, Feb 24 2008 11:01 am
From: neil

ENTS:

There is a neat entry in Donald Culross Peattie's "A Natural History of
Trees of Eastern and Central North America'. One of my favorite parts of
the entry discusses the famous botanists Andre Michaux's passion for
bigleaf Magnolia after seeing it in full bloom near Charlotte, NC.
Peattie writes:

"Having once discovered so notable an addition to this continent's
famous list of native Magnolias, Michaux was forever watching for it.
And thus he found again this queenliest of all deciduous Magnolias while
he was passing through "the wilderness" of the Cumberland Mountains,
through which Daniel Boone, only nineteen years before, has cut the
Wilderness Trail."

Peattie also discusses how Michaux looked for it in the Knoxville area,
beginning on June 4, 1795 and found it four days later in a
"bottom-lands" [incidentally, on the 15th of that month he found himself
at the house of Mr. Jackson - Old Hickory].

I've been amazed at the amount of bigleaf Magnolia in the Red River
Gorge area of eastern Kentucky. Hiking out to an arch in the gorge last
summer, I came across a valley choked with bigleaf Magnolia saplings.
I've never seen an area so full of the deciduous Magnolias as the Red
River Gorge.

neil

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Sun, Feb 24 2008 11:04 am
From: neil

Will et al.,

As ENTS has discovered, M. acuminata is also the oldest Magnolia to
date. The specimen from Cook Forest, PA had a max age in the 430s. A
couple individuals at Fiddlers Green in the central Blue Ridge Mountains
of VA were 310-330+ yrs. Southern Magnolia may come close to that age
someday There just isn't too much data to support such a great age for
that species.

neil

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