Star Magnolia,
Magnolia stellata, is a very slow growing
perennialA perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or small
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
native to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with large showy white or pink
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s in early spring before the appearance of the leaves. It is closely related to Kobushi magnolia (
M. kobus), and is treated by many botanists as a variety or even a
cultivarA cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....
of that; it is however accepted as a distinct species in the monograph cited below.
This tree grows 4.6 to 6 m (15 to 20 ft) in height, and spreads to 4.6m in width at maturity, and displays upright oval growth in youth, and spreads and mounds with age.
Star Magnolia,
Magnolia stellata, is a very slow growing
perennialA perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or small
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
native to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with large showy white or pink
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s in early spring before the appearance of the leaves. It is closely related to Kobushi magnolia (
M. kobus), and is treated by many botanists as a variety or even a
cultivarA cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....
of that; it is however accepted as a distinct species in the monograph cited below.
Description
This tree grows 4.6 to 6 m (15 to 20 ft) in height, and spreads to 4.6m in width at maturity, and displays upright oval growth in youth, and spreads and mounds with age.
The tree blooms at a young age, with the slightly fragrant 7–10 cm (3–4 in) flowers covering the bare plant in late winter or early spring before the leaves appear. There is natural variation within the flower color, which varies from white to rich pink; the hue of pink magnolias changes from year to year, depending on day and night air temperatures prior to and during flowering. The flowers are star shaped, with at least 12 thin, delicate
tepalTepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is usually used when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated...
s—some cultivars have more than 30. The leaves open bronze-green, turning to deep green as they mature, and yellow before dropping in autumn. They are oblong and about 4 in (10 cm) long by about an 1.5 in (4 cm) wide.
It produces a reddish-green, knobby aggregate fruit which is about 2 in long and matures and opens in early autumn. The fruit often drops before fully developed, but mature fruit opens by slits to reveal orange-red seeds.
Young twigs have smooth, shiny chestnut brown bark, while the main trunks have smooth, silvery gray bark. Like the saucer magnolia, it is
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
, revealing a twiggy, naked frame in winter.
Plants have thick, fleshy roots which are found fairly close to the surface and do not like disturbance.
Origins
Magnolia stellata is a species which may be found growing wild in certain parts of the
Ise BayIse Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso river, between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of 19.5 metres, and a maximum depth of 30 metres toward the centre. The mouth of the bay is 9 kilometres wide and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two...
area of central
Honshūor Honshu is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait...
, Japan’s largest island, at elevations between 50m and 600m. It grows by streamsides and in moist, boggy areas with other woody plants such as Enkianthus cernuus, Corylopsis glabrescens var. gotoana and Berberis sieboldii.
Cultivation
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This species has become naturalized in parts of North America, after it was introduced in the 1860s, and is a commonly grown ornamental in EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and much of North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. This species was first introduced to the UK, in 1877 or 1878, most likely by Charles MariesCharles Maries was an English botanist and plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to search for new hardy plants in Japan, China and Taiwan between 1877 and 1879; there he discovered over 500 new species, which Veitch introduced to England...
, while he was collecting for Veitch NurseriesThe Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into two separate businesses - based at Chelsea and...
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Spring frosts can damage the flowers. The shrub prefers deep, acidic
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and...
. It may be propagated by seed, or more easily by rooting cuttings taken after the flower buds have formed.