Deciduous tree or large shrub. Branchlets silky hairy. Leaves obovate to elliptic, mostly 9-20 cm long, heart-shaped at the base, silky hairy and waxy blue below. Flowers opening with the leaves, cup-shaped, slightly scented, the outer 3 segments sepal-like, inner 6 petal-like, pale yellowish green, mostly 5-6 cm long; stalk thick; spring. Fruit green aging red and appearing similar to young cucumbers. [m. cordata Michx.]
South-east North America
Waxy blue lower 3 segments that bend back and twist, second whorl with greenish colouring and inner whorl yellowish. Fruit like a small cucumber, hence the common name.
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.
Magnolia acuminata var. subcordata 'Elizabeth'
Magnolia acuminata × Magnolia denudata
Early flowering, yellow.
Raised by Evamaria Sperber in 1956 and named in 1978 to honour Elizabeth Scholz, Director of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Magnolia acuminata var. subcordata 'Golden Glow'
More prolific than the parent and with flowers distinctively yellow, especially at flowering.
Discovered in Smoky Mountains, Tennessee and registered by Dr Frank Galyon in 1975.
Magnolia acuminata var. subcordata 'Yellow Bird'
Magnolia acuminata × Magnolia ×brooklynensis 'Evamaria'
Small conical plant with bright yellow flowers that appear with the leaves, the outer segments slightly green at the base.
Raised by Doris Stone at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York in 1967. Introduced Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1981.
