MAGNOLIACEAE - - Magnolia Family

Magnolia grandiflora Linnaeus — Southern Magnolia, Bull Bay

Southern Magnolia, Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora) - Tree, when large with a trunk-diameter of over 2 m. and dark bark; leaf-blades elliptic, oval, broadly oblanceolate, or rarely ovate, 10—30 cm. long, brown or rusty-tomentose beneath; flowers very conspicuous, lemon-scented; petals creamy-white; blades sub-orbicular to orbicular-obovate, 5—10 cm. wide; fruit-cone oval; carpels pubescent; sees 1.5—2 cm. long. Cultivated for ornament as far north as Washington, DC.

Habitat:

Maritime forests, mesic Coastal Plain bluffs and flats, bottomlands, now also widely naturalized, spreading from cultivation into wet to mesic (and even dry) forests. The pre-Columbian range was apparently from se. NC south to c. peninsular FL, west to e. TX, largely on the Coastal Plain, now somewhat expanded northward and inland by naturalization from centuries of horticultural planting. This is, of course, the classic "southern magnolia," along with Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), and Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), one of the totem trees of the Deep South.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Magnolia grandiflora (Southern Magnolia, Bull Bay)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Magnolia grandiflora (Southern Magnolia, Bull Bay)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.