Magnolia, Loebner
Magnolia x loebneri
Magnoliaceae - Magnolia

Description

Leaves: Bronze-green upon emergence, dark green at maturity, and yellow-bronze in the fall; alternate; simple; inversely and narrowly egg-shaped, 4" to 6" in length and 1" to 2" in width, abruptly acute, entire, rounded; deciduous.

Twigs/buds: Twigs dark reddish brown or brown-purple-green, hairless; slender, dotted with gray lenticels; sweetly fragrant. Buds gray, softly hairy; flower buds large (1" to 1-1/2" long), egg-shaped, tapering to a blunt tip, widest diameter at the base; vegetative buds small (1/4" to 3/8" long), widest diameter in the middle, and tapering at both ends.

Flowers/fruit: Flowers perfect; mostly white, pinkish forms also available; showy, typically 12-tepaled (11-16), 4" to 6" in diameter; fragrant; appear between February and April (one of the earliest flowering magnolias). Fruit presumably an aggregate of follicles similar to M. stellata and M. kobus.

Bark: Silvery gray, smooth; sculptured on older trunks.

Wood: No information available; however, lumber from some other magnolia species is used for furniture, pallets, boxes, blinds, veneer, doors, and millwork.

General: A hybrid of M. stellata and M. kobus. A medium-sized tree, 20' to 30' tall. Canopy rounded with dense branches. Prefers sun to partial shade.

Landscape Use: This is a very desirable tree that deserves more attention in Utah. Many cultivars available. Good alone or in small groups. Flowers showy and large, with white to pink petals. One of the earliest flowering magnolias. Zones 3-8.

Cultivars: 'Ballerina', 'Donna', 'Encore', 'Leonard Messel', 'Marrill', 'Neal McEacharn', 'Norman Gould', 'Powder Puff', 'Raspberry Fun', 'Snowdrift', 'Spring Joy', 'Spring Snow', 'Star Bright', 'Super Star', 'Vegetable Garden', 'White Rose', 'White Stardust'.

Characteristics