old Fraser

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I have not yet been able to photograph the flower of a Fraser magnolia but here's an old illustration from “Curtis's Botanical Magazine,” (London, 1809, volume 30, plate 1206).

How could I capture it any better with a mere camera?

Started by William Curtis in 1787, the periodical that bears his name is the longest running botanical magazine in the world. Its publication continues to this day.

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Bartram's magnolia?

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You can add this to our list of native magnolias. This one is deciduous. We found the young Fraser magnolia growing along the Groto Falls Trail in the Great Smokies.

According to Steve Kemp's "Trees of the Smokies," William Bartram actually discovered this species on his travels through the South but it is named in honor of Scottish botanist John Fraser (1750–1811), who collected extensively in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1700s.

Go figure.

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