Magnolias Plant Directory

Magnolia obovata (hypoleuca)
Section Rhytidospermum
Epithet: obovate, referring to the leaves.
H4
Diploid (2n=38)
FCC 1893, (AGM 1993, removed 2012)
Tree to 30m in the wild, widely branching, with silvery grey bark.
10 year height/spread: 4m/2.5m
Flowers: 6-9 petaloid tepals 8.5-12cm long by 1.5-4.5cm wide, creamy white, globular at first,
opening out to saucer shaped, with purplish red filaments; very fragrant.
June/September.
Foliage: obovate leaves to 16-45cm long, 9-20cm wide, apex abruptly acute or occasionally rounded.
Mid green and glabrous above, silvery green or greyish-green below almost glabrous at maturity,
but covered with silky hairs at first. Petiole glabrous and purplish.
Introduced to England: about 1878.
Distribution: Japan: S. Kurile Islands, Hokkaido, Shikoshu, Kyushu, and the Ryukyu islands; about 1800m.
Recognise by: the leaves in whorls at the ends of the branches; the purple shades on young shoots
and petioles; the leaf size and shape; the flowering time.
Flowers after about 15 years from seed.
Though a delightful species in the larger garden, it is somewhat strange that this is the only 'tree'
magnolia species with the A.G.M.