Family: Magnoliaceae
Native Range: Caribbean, Mexico, southeastern United States
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 30-40 feet
Spread: 30-40 feet
Bloom Time: May
Bloom Description: White with purple petal bases
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
This tree surprised us all with not only its giant leaves, but giant buds as well. Its even in the name, Macro, meaning large, and phylla, meaning leaves. This tree had lost the majority if not all of its leaves already, but we found the massive 2 foot long leaves scattered throughout the area, and left us all wondering where it was coming from. The bud size makes sense for a leaf of this size, the big leaf magnolia gets a 4 out of 4 for its leaves. For its bark, its dotted lightly, almost pimply bark, gets a 2 out of 3. The bark is smooth on its youngest pieces, but as it ages it forms these pock marks that run up and down the main trunk. For landscape uniqueness, this tree gets a 3 out of 3 for its placement. The leaves are huge, it blooms well in the spring, and isn’t a huge tree, so it earns a combined score of 9 out of 10.
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 3
As for a building material, this tree has very little information available online about its lumber. It is an understory tree that doesn’t grow rather high or straight, making this tree not a viable option for dimensional lumber. Through research of similar magnolia trees, the hardness can range from 400-1,200lbs on the janka hardness scale, depending on the type. This tree is grown and cultivated more for ornament rather than for its wood, so it will get only a 2 out of 10. The only points going for it is that the wood is hard but rather weak and light, close-grained, and has very limited commercial use.
1. https://www.uky.edu/hort/Bigleaf-Magnolia
2. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a884
3. https://www.thespruce.com/bigleaf-magnolia-growing-profile-3269302
4. https://plantfacts.osu.edu/pdf/0247-717.pdf