Magnolia liliiflora lily magnolia

Rich purplish magenta tepals of Magnolia liliiflora in the School of Education courtyard (now removed). Sairus Patel, 4 Mar 2018

Large purple, tulip-shaped flowers distinguish this deciduous, modest-sized magnolia which has long been under cultivation in Japan and China, whence it was brought to Europe in the 18th century. The branchlets are a deep purple. The flower bud bracts are covered in light yellow hairs. The outermost 3 tepals are small and narrow, falling early. It blooms in February and early March, later than other deciduous magnolias on campus; new foliage emerges during bloom or just after.

Local specimens are all in shades of medium pink. One is at 619 Mirada Avenue. Three ‘Randy’, a hybrid with M. stellata, flank the front path of 680 Salvatierra Street. A substantial tree is at the corner at 483 Channing Avenue, Palo Alto, partially under the canopy of a ginkgo. A smaller one is at 2341 Columbia Street.

Campus has lost recent examples, including a dark burgundy specimen at the School of Education north courtyard, removed during renovation in 2024, and another pink one on Lomita Mall near Jane Stanford Way among the viburnum. A specimen reported in front of Bechtel International Center is also no more.

Magnolia liliiflora, Lomita Mall (now removed). John Rawlings, 20 Feb 2005

Name derivation: Magnolia – Pierre Magnol, 1638–1715, botanist of Montpellier.