Two days ago, in my posting “Some winter flowers”, I looked at the saucer magnolia tree, Magnolia x soulangeana (pictured in #2 in that posting), currently in bloom all around me on the SF peninsula. The large cup-like blossoms (purple, ranging from purplish-pink to reddish-purple) appear before the tree’s leaves do, making the floral display even more impressive.
When I posted about these trees, Kim Darnell objected, saying that they aren’t magnolia trees, but tulip trees.
It’s important here that Kim lived for two decades in Atlanta, where (as generally in the southeastern US) unmodified magnolia refers to Magnolia grandiflora, also known as southern magnolia, a large evergreen tree with glossy green leaves and stunning fragrant white flowers. Meanwhile, somewhere she picked up the name tulip tree for saucer magnolias — a natural label, given that saucer magnolia blossoms look like pretty tulip flowers. But not a common name that I’d seen reported before; instead, the common name tulip tree generally refers to magnificent trees in the genus Liriodendron; a giant specimen of L. tulipifera towered over a yard halfway between the house I lived in as a child and the grade school I went to, so I’m familiar with its leaves, flowers, and fruits, all of which I played with as a kid.
Finally, also in bloom now in my neighborhood, Magnolia stellata, or star magnolia, which like saucer magnolia, blooms before it leafs out.
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(#1)
