Large tree to 30 m tall in the wild but much smaller in cultivation. Leaf stipules with felty brown hairs. Leaves elliptic to oblong to 17 cm long, more or less hairless, waxy blue below, vein pairs mostly more than 12. Leaf stalk about 1.5-2cm long. Flowers relatively large, more than 10 cm wide, creamy white, fragrant. Perianth segments 12-16 to about 7 cm long; late winter to early spring. Carpels numerous on a common stalk mostly 1-2 cm long.
W China, E Himalaya
A Himalayan and Chinese timber tree.
Leaves pale waxy bluish-white below, simlar to those of Avocado, Persea americana, but the stalks are swollen and have stipular scars.
Specimens?NSW: Neutral Bay (Stirling Macoboy's garden, Undercliff St). VIC: Dandenongs (George Tindale Gds); Melbourne (Royal Bot. Gds, Magnolia Bed; Alexandra Gds; Queen Victoria Gds).
Source: (1997). Magnoliaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press. (as Michelia doltsopa)
Magnolia doltsopa 'Silver Cloud'
A slightly larger-flowered grafted variant also with larger leaves and flowers that are produced in abundance on young plants; segments about 20–30.