Leaves
Simple, alternate, oblong or elliptic 5 to 10" long and half as wide, glossy green and leathery.
Fruit
A cone shaped, rose red with bright red berries..
Flower
Flowers are large (8 to 12" in diameter), richly fragrant, and creamy white, a distinctive and much loved trait of the species.
Bark
Smooth and gray on both young and old trees becoming irregularly scaly in older trees.
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Southern Magnolia
(Magnolia grandiflora)
Southern Magnolia
Clarke County Champion
Habit
The Southern Magnolia is sharply pyramidal in shape branching low almost to the ground. In general they are columnar in form, but highly variable with some trees as wide as they are tall. Medium to slow growers, the species will reach up to 90' in height and 50' or more in spread. The Clarke County Champion measures 142" in circumference (45.2" in diameter), is 74' tall, with a 50' crown spread, and is located at the Sun Trust Bank on Prince Ave.
Previously featured Trees of the Piedmont
- the White Oak
- the Eastern Redcedar
- the Loblolly Pine
- the Dogwood
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General
A dominant feature in southern landscapes, the Southern Magnolia requires a lot of space to thrive. They are often prominent features on the grounds of large estates. The tree has many cultivars (we stopped counting at 75), and some are designed for smaller sites such as the "Little Gem Magnolia shown below. The fruit is a cone-like structure that opens with many red seeds inside that falls to the ground in November and December, creating quite a mess. Southern Magnolia has limited commercial use in furniture manufacture.
Given room to grow, M. grandiflora develops an attractive pyramid shape with low sweeping branches.
Little Gem
The smallest of the many cultivars, the Little Gem Magnolia is ideal for small spaces, and makes a fine screen or hedge. Grows 20' or so in height.
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