This is a flower off a tree located in Central/Eastern Kentucky that was found on our wooded acreage. We are not natives of this region. It surely looks like the pictures I've seen of the Magnolia grandiflora but I can find no mention of the size blooms it has. These blooms are so large that I would think that they would be mentioned as part of the description but nothing I found mentions their size other than describing them as large. In my mind they are not large, they are giant, being over a foot in diameter! This particular flower is not one of the largest blooms either. Am I correct on it's identity?
Can I ask a silly question? Is it evergreen? The leaves in you pic just don't have the glossy sheen I associate with Magnolia grandiflora.
The leaves look like those of Magnolia macrophylla. A deciduous Magnolia, which has flowers with 6 tepals , marked maroon at the bases, and up to 12" across or more.
I do believe you are right....looked up that name specifically. The leaves are much more in line with the Magnolia macrophylla and so are the flower sizes. Thanks a bunch!
M. grandiflora has smaller, much more substantial leaves (almost like plastic), often with varying degrees of reddish fuzz beneath, and produces flowers with usually broader tepals (petal-like parts) relative to their length - never with purple markings near their bases. M. macrophylla produces thin papery leaves sometimes so big as to resemble those of banana plants; its tepals also look like deteriorating banana peels as the flowers age and discolor. Its oversize leaves blow about readily and become tattered in exposed positions, as can be seen in specimen shown. The heavy leaves of M. grandiflora are not normally affected by wind, except when blown completely off the trees by strong hurricanes.
