Scientific Name : Magnolia grandiflora L.
Common Name : Bull Bay, Southern Magnolia
Chinese Name : 荷花玉蘭, 洋玉蘭, 廣玉蘭, 荷花木蘭
Family : MAGNOLIACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origins | Southeast regions of North America. |
|---|---|
| Meanings of name | The flowers of the Lotus Magnolia are large and eye-catching, resemble a lotus flower in appearance, hence giving it the names “Lotus Yulan (荷花玉蘭)” and “Lotus Magnolia (荷花木蘭)” in Chinese. The diameter of the flower can reach 20 cm, which is even wider than a typical rice bowl we used! The species epithet “grandiflora” in its scientific name contains two Latin words, “grandis (large)” and “florus (flower)”, which come together to mean “having large flower”, exactly describing this feature. |
| Applications | The Lotus Magnolia has high ornamental value. Not only having stunning, moving, and fragrant flowers, its leaves also show “double-sided colour”. While the top side of the leaf is dark green and glossy, the underside is densely covered with short and woolly hairs in brown to greyish brown colour. The species can enrich the environment by different colours. As a result, Lotus Magnolia are commonly planted as street trees and gardening plants. However, the planting environment requires well-drained, moist and fertile soil. Furthermore, the Lotus Magnolia can be used as medicines. It is called “Guangyulan (廣玉蘭)” in Traditional Chinese Medicines and has properties of dispelling wind and cold, as well as promoting qi and relieving pain. The leaves, twigs and flowers of the Lotus Magnolia can be used to derive aromatic oils, while its flowers can also make into extracts. Oil can be extracted from its seed, while its strong yellowish-white wood can be used as decorative materials. |
| Growing habit | Evergreen tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 20 m. |
| Stems | Bark of trunk pale brown to grey, fissured into thin scales. Twigs, buds, petioles and abaxial surfaces of leaves densely short tomentose in brown to greyish brown colour. |
| Leaves | Elliptic, oblong-elliptic, to obovate-elliptic, apex obtuse or shortly mucronate, margin slightly revolute, thickly leathery. Dark green adaxially, glossy. Petioles deeply grooved. |
| Flowers | White, fragrant, upright, shaped like lotus and bowl. Tepals 9 to 12, obovate, thickly fleshy. Filaments of the stamens purple, flattened. Gynoecium ellipsoid, densely long tomentose in pale yellow colour. |
| Fruits | Aggregate follicles terete to ovoid, densely brown to pale yellow tomentose, shaped like a cylindrical sugar-apple (Annona squamosa L.). Follicles rounded abaxially, apex long-beaked, dehiscing along dorsal sutures. |
| Seeds | Ovoid to ellipsoid, slightly flattened, testa red. |
| Flowering period | May to June in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | September to October in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website : https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=6595
Scientific names from other databases
― Flora of China : Magnolia grandiflora Linnaeus
― Plants of the World Online : Magnolia grandiflora L.