Cucumber Magnolia
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Cucumber Magnolia ( Magnolia acuminata ) |
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| Magnolia acuminata | ||||||||||||
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The Magnolia acuminata ( Magnolia acuminata ) is a kind from the kind of magnolia and thus belongs to the family of Magnoliaceae (Magnoliaceae). It grows as a deciduous tree in eastern North America, where it is called the "cucumber tree". The name refers to the irregularly curved, leathery fruits.
Appearance
The cucumber magnolia is a deciduous tree that can grow up to 24 meters, in exceptional cases up to 30 meters. It has a domed, pyramidal crown, which consists of upright to slightly splayed branches. In contrast to the tulip magnolia, which is often planted in Central Europe, the trunk of this magnolia species is slim and straight. Buds and young twigs have silver hairs, the dark gray bark is finely furrowed on older branches .
The alternate leaves are ten to 25 centimeters long and four to 15 centimeters wide. The leaf shape is elliptical with a slender tip. The leaf base is wedge-shaped to slightly heart-shaped. The leaves are fresh green on the top, light green to whitish underneath and sometimes hairy.
The slightly fragrant flowers, which appear at the same time as the leaves from April to June, are individually at the ends of the branches and are up to nine centimeters wide. A single flower consists of three outer, short and green tepals and six further, bluish-green, light-green, light-yellow or yellow-orange bracts, which are arranged in a spiral. The flowers reach a diameter of five to ten centimeters. In the center there are 60 to 120 stamens with white stamens and 40 to 45 pistils . The resulting pod is green at first and later turns red. Because not all individual follicles contain seeds, the fruits are often irregularly shaped. The seeds are about one centimeter in size, heart-shaped and surrounded by an orange-red seed coat ( arillus ).
Distribution area
The cucumber magnolia has its original range in eastern North America, it largely coincides with the course of the Appalachians . In the north it reaches Ontario , making it the only magnolia species that can be found in Canada. In the south, isolated deposits reach as far as the Gulf of Mexico, in the west the Ozark Mountains are still populated. The cucumber magnolia can be found up to a height of 1500 meters. The climate is temperate and humid, the annual precipitation varies in the area of distribution between 900 and 2000 mm, the annual average temperature between 7 ° C and 18 ° C.
The populated soils are rich in nutrients, deep and well supplied with water. The pH value is mostly in the acidic range, but limestone soils are also tolerated. This species does not occur on dry or waterlogged soils. Most often it grows on north or east facing slopes.
The forests are dominated by various oak and hickory species, red and sugar maples . Other common trees are the tulip tree , Aesculus octandra, and the black walnut . Shrubs such as Hamamelis virginiana , various Cornus and Viburnum species grow in the undergrowth .
use
The cucumber magnolia is sometimes grown in parks or gardens as an ornamental tree. Some varieties have also been selected for this purpose, but it is more important as a cross-breeding partner for breeding yellow-flowered magnolias.
- 'Elizabeth' - Magnolia acuminata × Magnolia denudata , one of the first yellow flowering magnolias on the market, flowers before the leaves shoot, creamy white to light yellow. The specimen of the cucumber magnolia used for the cross had inconspicuous green flowers; surprisingly, the cross produced a plant with yellow flowers.
- 'Yellow Bird' - Magnolia 'Evamaria' × Magnolia acuminata , also yellow flowers.
- Magnolia × brooklynensis - Magnolia acuminata × Magnolia liliiflora , the cross between green-yellow and violet flowering plants sometimes results in strange brownish flower colors, but yellow or violet flowers can also occur. Named for the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, where these crossings began in 1954.
The wood is occasionally used in furniture construction, in the trade it is marketed together with the wood of the tulip tree as "yellow poplar".
The Cherokee and Iroquois Indians used the bark of the cucumber magnolia as medicine.
Systematics
The plant was already described by Carl von Linné in 1753 as a variety of Magnolia virginiana on the basis of an earlier publication by Mark Catesby . In 1759 he gave it as an independent species. The name acuminata means "pointed" and refers to the shape of the leaf.
Within the genus Magnolia , the cucumber magnolia is classified in the sub-genus Yulania , there in the Yulania section ; it is the only representative of the Tulipastrum subsection . All other species from the Yulania section come from East Asia, such as the Yulan magnolia , the purple magnolia or the star magnolia . The number of chromosomes is 2n = 4x = 76, so the plants are tetraploid. There is a considerable range of variation in the area of distribution, for example in terms of hairiness, the size of the plants or the color of the flowers. Several varieties have been described, but today it is assumed that the differences cannot be assigned to individual populations. The subcordata (Spach) Dandy variety in particular is still mentioned frequently; it is said to be distinguished by yellow flowers, smaller plants around ten meters high and hairy leaves and twigs. In the "Flora of North America", however, it is explicitly mentioned that the cucumber magnolia should be better managed without intraspecific taxa.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Native American Ethobotany Database - University of Michigan
- ↑ Linnaeus: Species Plantarum. Vol. 1. Salvius, Holmiae 1753, p. 536.
- ^ Linnaeus: Systema Naturae, Editio Decima . Vol. 2. Salvius, Holmiae 1759, p. 1082.
- ^ Classification of Magnoliaceae. Magnolia Society International, 2012, accessed December 22, 2015 . see. RB Figlar, HP Nooteboom: Notes on Magnoliaceae IV. In: Blumea. Leiden 49,2004,1,87. ISSN 0006-5196
- ↑ Callaway, 1994, p. 170.
literature
- DJ Callaway: The World of Magnolias . Timber Press, Portland Or 1994, pp. 167ff. ISBN 0-88192-236-6
- FG Meyer: Margnoliaceae. In: Flora of North America North of Mexico . Vol. 3. New York / Oxford 1997. ISBN 0-19-511246-6
- HC Smith: Cucumbertree. In: RM Burns, BH Honkala (Ed.): Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Hardwoods. Agriculture Handbook. Vol. 654. US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington DC 1990. ISBN 0-16-027145-2
Web links
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
- M. Robinson: Yellow magnolias - an English view. Horticultural Society, accessed August 24, 2009 .
- T. Sandall: Magnolia's golden future. Royal Horticultural Society, 2003, accessed August 24, 2009 .
- 'PLANTS' database, US Department of Agriculture