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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out my window

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Just outside my office window at Ijams, there’s a sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana, if you are into the Latinized appellation). It's now in bloom, wonderful perfect blooms like the creamy calcite alabaster prized by the Ancient Egyptians, luxurious and fragrant. Yet another reason I should take the time to look out of the window more often.

The sweetbay was the first magnolia scientifically described. (Not the tree outside my window, but another one much older.) It was the first species assigned to the genus Magnolia named in honor of French botanist Pierre Magnol. That first sweetbay was found by missionaries sent to North America in the 1680s, of course, the Native Americans knew of the trees long before that, they just did not see the need to shackle the poor thing with such a cumbersome moniker.

It’s also a tree with a bit of an identity crisis, is it deciduous or evergreen? Actually, it’s both depending on where it grows. It’s evergreen in areas with mild winters in the south, and it's semi-evergreen or deciduous further north.

- Photo taken just outside my window at Ijams Nature Center

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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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fire engine red

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Truth is, before I started this blog I believed that sweet gums or oaks were my favorite trees but the group that I keep coming back to time and time again are the magnolias. The ancient magnolias that have been around longer than bees, which is why they are pollinated by beetles. (Some plants in the Magnoliaceae family go back perhaps as much as 95 million years.)

Most species native to our area are deciduous but not all. I've posted about the evergreen Southern magnolia before, now they are producing seeds. Fire engine red seeds! Wow.

-Photo taken at Ijams Nature Center.

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seed time

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Four months ago, I blogged about the Southern magnolia with its enormous citronella-scented white flowers that are so associated with the Deep South and sultry, hot afternoons; it's the polished, aristocrat of Southern trees. (See June 9 posting)

Well, the hot summer afternoons are gone for another year, perhaps you miss them, perhaps you don’t. It’s mid-October and we find that the tree is now presenting its bright red seeds. They are as eye-catching as the grand flowers were.

The one I photographed is on the Homesite at Ijams Nature Center.

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