San Francisco Botanical Garden

Common name: Hodgson magnolia (English); Montha Doi (Thai)

Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia)

Synonym: Talauma hodgsonii

Distribution: Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Life form: Evergreen tree

Bloom: Fragrant purple or white flowers in Spring or Summer

Height: 15 m

Magnificent Magnolia Facts: Native to the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, Magnolia hodgsonii is "an understory tree of primary evergreen mixed subtropical rainforest," according to the IUCN Red List report, and it grows at elevations between 900-1,500 meters. The species is a soft-wood, evergreen tree which can grow to a height of 15 meters. Named after Bryan Houghton Hodgson, a 19th century amateur naturalist in Nepal. While M. hodgsonii is not considered a threatened species it is not common among ex situ sites. As of 2022, this specimen was found in only 15 ex situ collections world wide.

Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade in moist soil. Prefers slightly acidic to slightly alkaline soil.

Botanical Description: Trees, to 15 m tall. Twigs slightly glaucous, glabrous. Stipular scar nearly reaching apex of petiole. Petiole 5-6 cm; leaf blade obovate-oblong, 20-50 × 10-13 cm, leathery, secondary veins 10-20 on each side of midvein, base cuneate, apex obtuse to acuminate. Peduncle thick and strong, 1.5-2 × ca. 1.5 cm, with 1 or 2 bract scars; spathaceous bracts purple. Tepals 9, thickly fleshy; outer 3 tepals grassy green outside, ovate, ca. 9 cm; tepals of middle and inner whorls milky white; inner tepals smallest. Fruit ovoid, 13-15 cm; mature carpels 40-80, narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, 2.5-4 cm, apex long tipped. (Flora of China)