Magnolia figo

Magnolia figo
Cultivar 'Purple Queen'
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Magnoliaceae
Genus: Magnolia
Species: M. figo
Binomial name
Magnolia figo
(Lour.) DC.
Synonyms

Liriodendron figo
Michelia figo
Michelia fuscata
Magnolia fuscata

Magnolia figo (also called banana shrub, port wine magnolia, Michelia figo) is an evergreen tree growing to 3-4 m tall. It is native to China.

Initially described as by Portuguese missionary and naturalist João de Loureiro as Liriodendron figo, it was reclassified as Michelia figo by German botanist Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel. In 2006, a cladistic analysis of the genus Michelia found them to lie within the genus Magnolia, with the name now being Magnolia figo.

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens for its fragrant flowers, which are cream-white, purple rounded, or light-purple, and strongly scented with isoamyl alcohol.[1] The leaves are leathery, dark glossy-green, up to 10 cm long. This plant is used in Shanghai, China, as a tall evergreen hedge. It grows to a large evergreen compact tree. It grows in acid and alkaline soil very well. Susceptible to black soot.

See also

Media related to Magnolia figo at Wikimedia Commons

Further Reading

References

  1. Knudsen, Jeite T.; Tollsten, Lars; Bergstrom, L. Gunnar (1993). "Floral Scents - A Checklist of Volatile Compounds Isolated by Head-Space Techniques". Phytochemistry 33 (2): 253–280.
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