Magnolia sieboldii

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Siebold's Magnolia

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Magnoliaceae
Genus: Magnolia
Species: M. sieboldii
Binomial name
Magnolia sieboldii

Siebold's Magnolia (Magnolia sieboldii), also known as Oyama Magnolia, is a species of Magnolia native to eastern Asia in China, Japan, and Korea. It is named after the German doctor Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796–1866).

It is a large shrub or small tree 5–10 m tall. The stalks, young leaves, young twigs and young buds are downy. The leaves are elliptical to ovate-oblong, 9-16 cm (rarely 25 cm) long and 4-10 cm (rarely 12 cm) broad, with a 1.5-4.5 cm petiole. The flowers, unlike the better-known spring flowering Magnolias, open primarily in the early summer, but continue intermittently until late summer. They are pendulous, cup-shaped, 7-10 cm diameter, and have 6-12 tepals, the outer three smaller, the rest larger, and pure white; the carpels are greenish and the stamens reddish-purple or greenish-white.

There are three subspecies:

  • Magnolia sieboldii subsp. japonica. Japan. Low shrub; flowers with 6 tepals and greenish-white stamens.
  • Magnolia sieboldii subsp. sieboldii. Japan, Korea, eastern China. Tree or large shrub; flowers with 9-12 tepals and reddish-purple stamens; leaves smaller, rarely over 16 cm.
  • Magnolia sieboldii subsp. sinensis. Southwestern China (Sichuan); flowers as subsp. sieboldii; leaves larger, commonly to 22 cm.

Called "Mongnan" (목란; 木蘭), Siebold's Magnolia is national flower of North Korea. It is one of the hardiest magnolias, successful in cultivation as far north as the Arboretum Mustila in Finland.

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