Decidous shrub to 5 m or more tall. Leaves obovate to elliptic mostly 10-15 cm long tapering to the apex, more or less hairy below. Flowers with mostly 9 perianth segments, white inside, mostly reddish outside; late winter. Fruit cylindrical, 5-10 cm long and often contorted. A hybrid raised by Soulange-Bodin near Paris in 1820 as a cross between m. denudata (seed) amd m. liliiflora (pollen).
Garden origin
Recent nomenclature rulings dictate the correct spelling of the name as above, not "×soulangiana". A widely cultivated and popular garden plant.
Flowers with 9 segments, the outer ones generally slightly shorter than the inner ones.
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.
Early flowering, white with rose-purple at the base of the outer segments. Raised by Louis van Houtte, Ghent, Belgium, 1867. ['Alba Superba']
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Alexandrina'
Upright, tall shrub. Flowers large, appearing with the leaves, perianth segments 9 to 5 cm wide, darker pink at the base, most of the lower part streaked with purple lines, inside pure white. Raised c. 1825 by Cels of Montrouge, France. Literature?Gaylon (1990).
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Amabilis'
Flowers large, fragrant almost entirely white. Raised Baumann, Bolwheiler, Alsace, France, 1865.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Brozzonii'
Large white flowers delicately coloured at the base. Late flowering. Introduced 1873 by a. Leroy, France.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Dolly Horn'
Flowers initially goblet-shaped, mauvish pink but paler than the parent, white inside and spreading at maturity. In about 1975 Mrs Dolly Horn of Leongatha North pollinated m. campbellii × m. soulangeana 'Lennei' with pollen from m. × soulangeana 'Lennei'. (Rodney EmmerÃÂÂson, pers. comm.). A plant was grown from seed to flowering in September 1983 by Rodney Emmerson. Blue ribbon prizes were awarded to the flowers on two occasions at the Ferny Creek Horticultural Society and it has since passed into commerce although unregistered in early 1995. Summer flowers are produced but are not of the same quality as the spring ones.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Iolanthe'
Flowers larger and paler than those of 'Lennei'. Raised at Waitara, North Island, New Zealand by Felix Jury as a seedling of m. ×soulangeana 'Lennei' crossed with pollen from m. ' Mark Jury'. Flowers first produced in 1970.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Lennei Alba'
Like m. denudata but a later-flowering plant with outer flower segments smaller. Introduced by Froebel, Zurich, Switzerland, c. 1905.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Lennei'
Flowers late in season, deep rose-purple outside and resembling large tulips. Probably raised by g. Manetti, Monza, Italy c. 1840.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Norbertii'
Perianth segments in 3 whorls each of 3 segments. Similar to 'Alexandrina' but earlier flowering and smaller-flowered. Origin uncertain but possibly raised by Cels of Montrouge, Paris by 1835-there may be at least 2 forms.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Picture'
Flowers erect, rose pink outside, white inside. Raised by Wada, Yokohama, Japan c. 1925.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Rustica Rubra'
Flowers large, faintly scented, white inside, purple outside. Like 'Lennei' but flowers darker and flowering earlier. Boskoop, Holland 1893.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'San Jose'
Flowers large, early, fragrant and nearly the same size and shade as 'Lennei'. Named by Clarke &Co, San José, California, usa in 1940.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Speciosa'
Flowers large, white, fragrant with a pinkish stripe outside, the petals of the upper half spreading outwards, the interior white. Late flowering. Raised by Cels, Montrouge, France, 1825.
Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Verbanica'
Flowers flushed deep pink, late flowering. Raised by Leroy, Angers, France in 1873.
