magnolia

Magnolia

(măgnō`lyə), city (1990 pop. 11,151), seat of Columbia co., SW Ark.; inc. 1855. Its oil industry has been important since 1938. Metal products, apparel, chemicals, and lumber are also produced. Southern Arkansas Univ. is there.

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magnolia,

common name for plants of the genus Magnolia, and for the Magnoliaceae, a family of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, often with showy flowers. They are principally of north temperate regions with centers of distribution in Asia and E North America. The magnolia family is considered one of the most primitive groups of angiosperms.

Among the few native American species of the chiefly Asian genus Magnolia are the deciduous umbrella tree (M. tripetala); the cucumber tree (M. acuminata), named for the appearance of its unripe fruits; the evergreen sweet, or swamp, bay (M. virginiana); and the bull bay, or Southern magnolia (M. grandiflora), with enormous blossoms resembling water lilies. Many imported magnolias are also cultivated in the South, as are several species of the Asian genus Michelia.

The only other member of the family native to North America is the tulip tree or tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera), named for the tuliplike shape of its greenish-yellow, orange-centered blossoms. The tulip tree, relic of a past geological era when it was widespread throughout North America and Europe, now grows only in the E United States and in China. Its light but strong yellowish softwood, prized for cabinetwork and furniture, is commonly called yellow poplar, canary wood, whitewood, or tulipwood.

The magnolia family is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Magnoliales.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2013, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

magnolia

magnolia

Tree grows up to 90 ft, with big waxy oval leaves and very large white aromatic flowers with tough, thick petals. Magnolias are a prehistoric plant, dating beyond 95 million years ago. Most flowers are white, but some varieties are pink, shapes vary. Bark tea used for rash and itchy skin conditions, malaria, rheumatism. Seeds used as sedative, for spasms, digestive issues, heart problems, blood pressure, epilepsy and general illness. Some people have skin reactions after touching leaves. Leaves can be cut smaller and used like bay leaves in recipes. (Don’t use whole leaf or it will overpower). The huge white flowers are edible, but taste VERY strong, so most people only eat them pickled, and then only one petal at a time chopped fine and used sparingly. Magnolia flower is a historic treatment for opening nasal and sinus passages.

Edible Plant Guide © 2012 Markus Rothkranz

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Magnolia

 

a genus of plants of the family Magnoliaceae, including trees or, rarely, shrubs. The simple leaves are ever-green or deciduous, and the flowers are terminal, solitary and bisexual. The fruit is a spiral multiple follicle. The approximately 80 species have the same area of distribution as other members of the family Magnoliaceae. One species, Magnolia obovata, grows in the USSR, in the Kuril Islands; 15 species are cultivated in the southern Crimea, the Black Sea shore of the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Middle Asia. Of these species, southern magnolia (M. grandiflora) is particularly common. An evergreen tree measuring up to 30 m tall, it has shiny leaves and large white flowers. Magnolia leaves contain alkaloids, an essential oil, and glycosides, which are used to lower blood pressure. A liquid alcohol extract of magnolia leaves is used in the early stages of hypertension.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Magnolia

[mag′nōl·yə]

(botany)

A genus of trees, the type genus of the Magnoliaceae, with large, chiefly white, yellow, or pinkish flowers, and simple, entire, usually large evergreen or deciduous alternate leaves.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

magnolia

of Louisiana and Mississippi. [Flower Symbolism: Golenpaul, 632]

See: Flower, State

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magnolia

symbol of magnificence. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 175]

See: Splendor

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

magnolia

1. any tree or shrub of the magnoliaceous genus Magnolia of Asia and North America: cultivated for their white, pink, purple, or yellow showy flowers

2. the flower of any of these plants

3. a very pale pinkish-white or purplish-white colour

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005