Magnolia

:This article refers to the plant. For other uses, see Magnolia (disambiguation).

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Magnolia is a large genus of about 120 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae.

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Magnolia species are mainly found in eastern North America, Central America and east and southeast Asia, although some are also found in South America.

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The genus is named after Pierre Magnol, a botanist from Montpellier in France. The first species belonging to this genus to be identified was M. virginiana (Sweetbay magnolia), found by missionaries sent to North America in the 1680s. The second was another North American plant, M. grandiflora (Southern magnolia), identified early in the 18th century.

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Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are tough to avoid damage. Fossilised specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae back to 95 million years ago. Another primitive aspect of Magnolias are their lack of distinct sepals or petals. The term tepal has been coined to refer to the intermediate element that Magnolia has instead.

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The magnolia is the official state flower of both Mississippi and Louisiana. For this reason, it has become a symbol of support for the regions most heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in the late summer of 2005 (for example, presenters at the 2005 Emmy Awards on September 18, 2005, wore magnolias on their lapels, as did host Ellen DeGeneres, a New Orleans native). Mississippi's state nickname is the "Magnolia State", because of the abundance of magnolias in the state. The magnolia is also the official state tree of Mississippi.

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Genus: :...

Flowering plant: Magnoliopsida - Dicots...

Species: In biology, the most commonly used definition of species was first coined by Ernst Mayr. Species are "groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (however, see other definitions of species below)....

Magnolia related Images and Photos (experimental)

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