Quentin Cronk, director of UBC Botanical Garden, contributed today's photograph, recently taken in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, aka the Duke University Botanic Garden (in North Carolina).
Quentin supplied this text from the Flora of North America account for Ashe's magnolia:
“Magnolia ashei, the rarest species of Magnolia in the flora, is limited to six counties in the Florida panhandle; it is in danger of extirpation because of habitat disturbance. Magnolia ashei differs from M. macrophylla in being a smaller, often multitrunked tree with smaller leaves, fewer stamens and pistils, smaller seeds, smaller stipules, filiform trichomes, and smaller, nearly glabrous, cylindric follicetums. The flowers are often borne in pairs. Magnolia ashei flowers at an early age (three to four years from seed); it is a desirable small tree in cultivation.”
Photography resource link: For inspiration, the photography of Danny Burk. If you only have the time to browse through one gallery of his photographs, see Danny's favorites.
Magnolia ashei - Z7 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Magnolia ashei - Z7-9 - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Magnolia macrophylla subsp. ashei - "It has perhaps larger leaves and flowers than any other deciduous tree or shrub hardy in the British Isles" - The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs, 2002
Above excerpt from HILLIER MANUAL OF TREES & SHRUBS taken from description of bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), as of course it would be. Under Ashe magnolia (M. macrophylla subsp. ashei) the MANUAL says "in all respects a miniature M. macrophylla, with smaller leaves, flowers and fruits."
Ahhhhhh, the magnolias....
If ever there were a reminder that life can be sweet, it's a magnolia tree in bloom. Even the word "magnolia"....