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Magnolia × soulangeana

Saucer Magnolia

Pronunciation
mag-NOL-i-a so-lan-gee-ay-nah
Pronunciation Audio
Family
Genus
Growth Habit

Upright in youth and often grown as a multi-stemmed shrub under nursery production; usually a large spreading shrub or small, low-branched tree with wide-spreading branches forming a pyramidal to rounded outline at maturity.

Hardiness
4
Culture

Magnolias have a fleshy root system with minimal laterial roots and root hairs and should be transplanted balled and burlapped or from a container; soil should be moist, deep, preferably acid (pH 5.0 to 6.5), and supplemented with leaf mold or peat moss; prefer full sun but will withstand light shade; do not plant too deep; prune after flowering.

Landscape Use

Saucer Magnolia is distinctly upright in youth and often grown as a multi-stemmed shrub under nursery production; usually a large spreading shrub or small low-branched tree with wide spreading branches forming a pyramidal to rounded outline at maturity. Generally 20-30 feet in height with a variable spread. Leaves alternate, obovate to broad oblong, 3-7" long. Medium green in summer and yellow brown in fall. Flowers emerge in April. Perfect, wite to purplish, often with 9 tepals, usually outside of tepals are flushed pinkish purple while the inside is whitish, 5-10" diameter. Flowers are susceptible to frost damage since they open early in the season. Saucer Magnolia tolerates air pollution, the heat of Florida, and some cultivars will tolerate colder zones. It makes a lovely specimen tree and works well in small groupings, near buildings, or in large lawns.

Foliage

Medium green foliage in summer:Yellow brown fall color

Buds

Terminal buds - flower, pubescent silky to the touch, .5 to .75 inches long, laterals smaller.

Bark

A handsome gray on older trunks, usually smooth, often with sapsucker damage.

Flower

Perfect, white to pink to purplish (variable when seed grown), often with 9 tepals, usually the outside of the tepals are flushed pinkish purple while the inside is whitish, 5 to 10 inches diameter, campanulate, before the leaves in March-April; solitary.

Fruit

Aggregate of follicles to 4 inches long, asymmetric, August-September, seldom produced in significant numbers; muddy purple in color.

Propagation

semi-hardwood cuttings collected in June-July should be wounded and treated with 10,000 ppm IBA

Pests
None serious.
Cultivars

'Alba'

'Alba Superba'

'Brozzonii'

'Dottie Grosse'

'Lennei'

'Lennei Alba'

'Lombardy Rose'

'Rustica Rubra'

'Sundew'

'Verbanica'

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