There are a lot of showy magnolias in the garden right now, but today's winner was Magnolia sprengeri. Not nearly as showy, but maybe my favourite flower in the garden, is Melliodendron xylocarpum. This one is on the entrance plaza. I actually prefer the one with the more pink flowers, but we just noticed this one as we were leaving, and it only had one flower open. The bud colour of these is wonderful.
I wonder if the magnolia may be an open-pollinated hybrid seedling. Does the labeling have any cultivar names or other hints about background?
Any background information, like if it was wild collected, collected from open-pollinated seed in a garden, etc.? Has it been keyed out with certainty to M. sprengeri? As can be seen with other examples in the Lam garden the orthodoxy is for true M. sprengeri to produce either white or rich pink flowers with more or less claw-shaped, spatulate tepals from buds that may therefore be shaped like light bulbs after opening. Plant(s) shown growing in China in a recent Plantsman article which was presented as a sort of update or review had the rich pink coloring; it was mentioned that white flowers were know in part of the range of the species. Hybrids have been frequent among plants raised from the 'Diva' at Caerhays and at the US National Arboretum, both having happened to have been planted near white saucer magnolias with which they are apparently quite liable to cross. Perhaps M. sprengeri crosses with other Yulania in gardens also, with the UBC tree shown here being an example of such. Also the online Flora of China mentions that Yulania are crossing spontaneously in the vicinity of recent Chinese plantations, resulting in wild origin plants of hybrid nature. So even if the UBC tree is of wild (or cultivated, as in a botanic garden) origin perhaps hybridity could be possible.
Info was at work: Received from Gossler (presumably Gossler Farms Nursery), and not listed as wild-collected. Originally received as var. diva, but that name was moved to var. sprengeri in 2007. Not sure why, though, as the rationale isn't recorded. However, even with my casual observations this spring, I would agree that it doesn't look and act like other plants similarly-named in the Garden. The saucer magnolia hybridization makes some sense, as the flowers keep the upright tepals for some time.
Multiple other examples I have looked at have made it appear pink M. sprengeri tends to produce tepals that toss about wildly in breezes, tear off prematurely - even while stamens are still fresh-looking. If this tree is producing tepals with a more normal level of persistence I would wonder about that also.
