Saucer Magnolia

(Magnoliaceae - Magnolia Family)

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• Form
  • medium-sized, multi-trunked ornamental tree
  • maturing at about 25' tall by 25' wide
  • upright oval growth habit in youth, becoming rounded, spreading, and mounding with age
  • medium growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • performs best in full sun in moist, acidic, deep soils but is quite adaptable to a wide range of soils, soil pHs, and pollution
  • propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings, but occasionally grafted or germinated from seeds
  • Magnolia Family, with minor disease and pest problems that usually do not cause any harm, although sapsuckers may encircle the trunk on occasion with small holes
  • moderately available, primarily in ball and burlap form
  • Saucer Magnolia is somewhat sensitive to being transplanted in Autumn (as is typical of coarse- and fleshy-rooted woody plants), and care should be taken to amend the soil, fertilize, water thoroughly, mulch adequately, and avoid Winter salt spray, to enhance survival chances during the first Winter

• Foliage
  • leaves are medium to dark green, deciduous, alternate, oblong to elliptical, and up to 6" long
  • fall color is green to chartreuse in November

• Flowers
  • Winter floral buds are large and fuzzy, giving rise to "candles" as they expand and open in late March and early April, long before the foliage emerges
  • petals are pink-purple on the exterior and white in the interior, never fully reflexed when fully expanded, but very showy when not killed by cold temperatures
  • flowers are large (up to 5" tall by 5" wide), but are frequently "browned" by early Spring frosts and freezes and rendered "frozen" on the stems until mid-Spring
  • may sporadically have a very few flowers open anytime from late Summer to late Autumn, but this does not affect Spring flowering

• Fruits
  • sparse aggregate brown fruits split open to expose the orange interior seeds in September, but are ornamentally insignificant and rarely produced

• Twigs
  • stout stems are gray-brown, with prominent leaf scars, and are branched sympodially (several stems arise from the same point on a young branch, resembling fingers originating from an upturned hand)
  • terminal floral and vegetative buds are densely and noticeably hirsute (fuzzy), and are much larger than the lateral buds

• Trunk
  • multitrunked, with bark that is light gray and smooth, even with age

• ID Summary
  • fuzzy Winter terminal buds are large and very distinctive on the stout stems, contributing to the bold Winter texture
  • trunks and branches are a smooth gray, even at maturity
  • the multitrunked, upright oval growth habit in youth gives way to a spreading habit with age (usually limbed up, and up to 25' tall and wide), with each trunk and its branches forming a subtle "mound" in the outline of the tree
  • pink-purplish-white flowers occur abundantly in early Spring, but are frequently attacked by frosts and freezes before they reach full expansion
  • sympodial branching, with stout gray-brown first-year stems

• Function
  • specimen, focal point, entranceway, or street tree, often serving as an early Spring accent

• Texture
  • bold texture in foliage and when bare
  • thick density in foliage and when bare

• Assets
  • outstanding floral display in a frost-free late March and early April
  • flowers at a young age
  • fuzzy, large Winter terminal buds
  • ornamental smooth gray bark

• Liabilities
  • early Spring frosts and freezes often kill or damage the emerging floral "candles"
  • hard freezes below -10 degrees Fahrenheit or harsh Winter winds may kill the floral buds outright or severely damage them, long before they are due to emerge
  • poor fall color
  • may become larger than expected with age, and outgrow the typical amount of space allocated to an ornamental tree

• Habitat
  • zones 4 to 9
  • parents of this hybrid (Magnolia denudata x Magnolia liliiflora) are both native to China

• Alternates
  • companion trees and shrubs with prominent early Spring floral displays (Chaenomeles speciosa, Cornus mas, Corylopsis glabrescens, Hamamelis vernalis, etc.)
  • woody plants with good Winter bud, bark, and/or growth habit character, or bold texture (Acer griseum, Aesculus hippocastum, Betula nigra, Corylus avellana 'Contorta', Gymnocladus dioicus, Magnolia stellata, etc.)

• Variants
  • Magnolia x soulangiana 'Alexandrina' - probably the most common cultivar, with characteristics generally as described in the above text for the species form (although the species form is most commonly sold)
  • many new hybrids of early-flowering Magnolias have emerged with slightly later flowering times and shorter stature, available in various floral shades of white, pink, dark red, and purple; they are generally crosses of Magnolia stellata 'Rosea' and Magnolia liliiflora 'Nigra' and are rapidly replacing Magnolia x soulangiana in popularity, although they often get their flowers damaged by frosts and late freezes as well

• Translation
  • Magnolia is named after Pierre Magnol, a 17th century French botanist.
  • x soulangiana (sometimes misspelled as x soulangeana) is named after Etienne Soulange-Bodin, a Frenchman who raised the original hybrid of this plant on his plantation in France.

• Purpose
  • Saucer Magnolia is an early Spring-flowering tree that also has ornamental Winter floral buds, smooth gray bark, bold texture, and dense shade.

• Summary
  • Magnolia x soulangiana is an upright multi-trunked tree, having pink-white large showy early Spring flowers emerging long before the foliage (but the flowers are frequently killed by frosts and freezes).