The photos below are of a soulangiana Magnolia. What makes learning Magnolias fun is that some years we get color in these beauties we do not see every year. This is a Monrovia plant I've had a while, not going to tell what cultivar name I bought it as being just yet. See if you can find one online or from a book that matches it? Photos uploaded from the digital camera on March 3, 2006.
Many Europeans spell soulangeana with an "e". We've spelled soulangiana with an "i" for years and so have the Japanese. Jim
Well that's a beautiful one however you spell it. I've never seen a magnolia loaded like that one here.
Interesting, RHS lists M. soulangiana, IPNI lists it as soulangeana. According to Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names soulangia' honours Etienne Soulange-Bodin, who raised the celebrated magnolia hybrid. Not sure which name I would put on the tag if we had one at the garden.
As it is named after M. Soulange, not M. Soulangi, soulangeana is the correct spelling - see ICBN Art. 60.7, ex. 11 http://www.bgbm.org/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0065Ch7OaGoNSec1a60.htm
Personally, I find this discussion counterproductive. I don't have to tell you the name of this Magnolia or divulge any of the history of it. It becomes your loss, not mine and besides the plant is not yours. I don't see any of you' posting photos of your own Magnolias in this forum. I did not want to do this but let's get it out into the open. How it was put to me in jest years ago may hold true. "Those that spell it with an "i" know their Magnolias. Those that spell it with an "e" think they know Magnolias". We can go so far to apply the same reasoning here. Those that spell it with an "i" should know this Magnolia, including US Universities and US aboretums. The RHS will know this Magnolia period as this form came into the US from England. Those that spell it with an "e" may not know this Magnolia and that may include various members of the Magnolia Society. OK soulangeana, following ICBN Recommendation 60.C.1 (c) - soulange+an+a Well, then I guess we have to change sargentiana, dawsoniana and virginiana and several Pines in the process as well just to suit so-called educated people affiliated with naming conventions that have never grown these plants and in some instances never have been around these plants. What do they know? Thank you bcgift52 for your comments. You may see this one in the UBC BG someday. Jim
Of "several pines", yes, Gray Pine (named after Edward Sabine) is correctly Pinus sabineana (see e.g. A. Farjon, Pines: Drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus, 2nd ed., 2005). Rules is rules, and if you break them, you'll get taken to task! What was it named jimiana?!? ;-)
The first photograph of the flowers against soft clouds is particularly lovely. The only magnolias that I have seen in bloom here are some of the star magnolias. I do not know magnolias, but starting with the list of those in UWBG's arboretum, it looks as though the flowers here look like those in Esveld's photograph of M. s. 'Lennei', but it was hybridized in Italy. I do not find the discussion on names less counterproductive for magnolias than for maples. The change from 'e' to 'i' is a common one in linguistics, and indeed, in this case, the 'i' is most common in the U.S., including UWBG, but I believe that uniformity is important and that it will be corrected with time to the proper name - soulangeana.
'Lennei' has especially large bulbous looking flowers that are nearly all purple on the outside, at the end of the season--as late as May in Seattle. The tree is low, spreading and sparse, with stout twigs. Even if Jim eventually says what name he got this one under "Much confusion exists in the naming: there are too many names for the number of distinct clones, and descriptions are often inconsistent and contradictory." - TREES OF SEATTLE, SECOND EDITION
Mr. Shep, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I am dealing more with the technical aspects of the naming of plants at my job now and found this particular name interesting, because of the frequent use of both names. True, this type of naming discussion is petty to most, but it is good to look at sometimes when talking about plants and essential for serious study. Jim, I know you, yourself have posted about what plants are named and what they are called. I suspect this one was probably called soulangiana by most of the people dealing with the plants in the early days and that it stuck. If we get into that technical of a name discussion again, we can take it up in a new thread in the Taxonomy forum. Back to the cultivar in question, looks more pink than purple, so guess it is not 'Alexandrina'. Looks a lot like 'Rustica Rubra' or 'Verbanica'.
Mr. Shep, Thanks for posting your photos of this and other magnolias - very beautiful, regardless of name. With respect to the name, however, wouldn't it have been simpler to use the name "Bodinii"? Maybe a French trick - like escargot?
'Alexandrina' became garbled rather early in the game, probably cannot be identified now. 'Rustica Rubra' is a seedling of 'Lennei' and like it more evenly colored on the outside than this one appears here--although fairly well along in the bloom it does bleach out partly. 'Verbanica' may be possible. The variation in pigmentation Jim mentioned combined with the other problems Jacobson (TREES OF SEATTLE - SECOND EDITION) reports makes certain naming of many saucer magnolia specimens impossible. Later: Now that these are coming out here I am reminded 'Rustica Rubra' often comes out partly whitish on the outside right from the start.
What a beautiful magnolia! I have just recently seen Monrovia's Black Tulip Magnolia and am trying to find a spot in my front garden where one can go. I do like the colouring of your tree too, but I am not that familiar with magnolias and won't even take a guess at it's name. Linda
