MAGNOLIA

Magnoliaceae family

The Magnolias includes one hundred species with nine species found in North America. They are an ancient lineage

of trees, considered “primitive” by botanists. They can be small trees or shrubs. Unlike other plants with showy

flowers of large and colorful petals backed by smaller, leaf-like sepals, Magnolias’ two parts are not differentiated.

The flower is composed of some numbers of “tepals” intermediate between petals and sepals. The Magnolia flowers

were pollinated mostly by beetles, given the relatively recent evolution of bees. Magnolia flowers are large and

showy, white in most species, but pink in some Asian hybrids.

There is only one Magnolia at Baber Cemetery. It is located inside the front gate on the west side of the entrance. It

is a hybrid. Being more like a bush than a tree, it is short-trunked with spreading branches. Its fuzzy green bud de-

velops in the fall, It has large full rounded flowers with the petals pink on the outside and bright white on the inside.

The flowers appear in early spring before the leaves. The leaves are small, slender, shiny green in coloring, and with

a point. Its seed or fruit evolution is quite interesting. The pod first appears in early fall (September) looking like a

green Gherkin pickle. As it grows, it takes on an irregular lumpy green caterpillar shape (usually by October). This

lumpy fruit pod turns fuchsia in color in November. At that time, it bursts open to reveal 10-14 orangish seeds per

pod. Once the pod bursts open, the outer shell dries and hardens, and the fruit\seed turns red.