Magnolia is a genus of flowering plants of the order Magnoliales, which groups the mostly arboreal species known by the common name of magnolias. In its present taxonomic circumscription the genus was extended to include the species that were dispersed by the genera Magnolia, Manglietia, Michelia, Talauma, Aromadendron, Kmeria, Pachylarnax and Alcimandra (all of the old subfamily Magnolioideae), resulting in a monophyletic genus with about 297 species. The genus is distributed throughout the subtropical and tropical regions of eastern and south-east Asia (including Malaysia) and the Americas, with centers of diversity in Southeast Asia and northern South America. The genus includes several species widely used as ornamental tree in the subtropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres.