Magnolia hodgsonii Hodgson’s magnolia

Reddish new leaves on Magnolia hodgsonii in the Inner Quad. Sairus Patel, 24 Apr 2024

Magnolia hodgsonii, Inner Quad. John Rawlings, ca. 2005

An exceptionally rare magnolia with an arresting development cycle, our exemplar was planted in the inner northeast island of the Inner Quad in 2003, replacing a crape myrtle at that spot. The leathery, stiff leaves, wider towards the tip end, can easily exceed 16 inches in length and 7 in width. They clatter against each other in the wind with multi-toned scraping whispers, rather like a foliar orchestra tuning up. At least one other aficionado of this species has noticed and appreciated this audible feature, and has been wanting to furnish his Southern California garden with several examples of this choice magnolia normally only present in botanical gardens. It is not easy to find in the retail trade.

In March and April elongated deep pink buds, emerging from branch tips, thrust up to the sky, and subsequently open, surprisingly, into not flowers but clusters of carefully lengthwise-folded reddish leaves that stand upright, creating an effect across the crown like that of the new leaves of bronze loquat (Eriobotrya deflexa) in spring. The pink bracts that protected these vegetative buds drop and are interesting to examine; though technically modified leaves, their venation and of course color is different. Shoot growth continues and in May, light bulb–shaped flower buds appear. In June their outer whorl of tepals, purplish rose on the outside, open up and have started to droop and fade by the time the inner ivory tepals have opened, the whole blossom never being in full perfect bloom at any one point.

First collected in the eastern Himalayas, where it is a denizen along with M. doltsopa, which you can also see on campus at Old Chemistry, this species was named Talauma hodgsonii initially but more recently moved into Magnolia along with Michelia (see account of M. doltsopa).