Magnolia hodgsonii

Magnolia hodgsonii (Hook.f. & Thomson) H.Keng, Gard. Bull. Singapore 31: 129 1978. (Syn: Talauma hodgsonii Hook.f. & Thomson);

Magnolia hodgsonii (syn. Talauma hodgsonii), known in Chinese as Gai lie mu is a species of Magnolia native to the forests of the Himalaya and southeastern Asia, occurring in Bhutan, southwestern China (Xizang), northeastern India, northern Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. It grows at moderate altitudes of 850–1500 m with a subtropical climate.^[2]

It is a small evergreen tree up to 15 m tall. The leaves are obovate-oblong, 20–50 cm long and 10–13 cm broad, with a leathery texture. The flowers are fragrant, with nine tepals up to 9 cm long, the inner tepals white, the outer ones greenish; they are produced in April to May. The fruit is 13–15 cm long, composed of an aggregate of 40-80 follicles.^[2]

The wood is “very soft and worthless”. Like almost all Himalayan Magnoliaceae, M. hodgsonii flourishes in a stiff clay soil.^[3]

(From Wikipedia on 25.4.16)

Small tree about with spreading branches. Bark greenish grey, warty or smooth with distant horizontal wrinkles with large white patches, inside the bark brownish yellow, fibrous about 0.5-0.8 cm thick. Leaves simple, alternate, oblanceolate-elliptic, oblong-obovate, 22-50 × 10-22 cm across, base acute or cuneate, margin entire, apex acute or shallow acuminate, coriaceous, thin, slightly glabrous reddish brown when young, lateral veins 15-25 on either side of the midrib, almost parallel, impressed above, more prominent on midrib and prominent of veins beneath, reticulate veinlets, petiole swollen at the base, about 2.5-7 cm long, stipules pilose, faint stipular scars usually as long the entire length of petiole. Flowers bisexual, solitary, terminal appearing with the leaves, white or pale pink, fragrant, never fully blooming, about 7-10 cm across, buds about 2.5-7 cm across, Perianth parts about 9-12, Sepals 3, oblong, apex obtuse, reddish purple or greenish white, fleshy, about 3 x 2.5 cm across, Petals 6-9, whitish yellow, grayish velvety, about 2.5 x 1.5 cm across, connective produced beyond anthers, apex acute, glabrous. Stamens numerous, light reddish violet, Gynoecium obovoid or ellipsoid, carpels sessile, glabrous, closing embracing and imbricating on gynophore, Fruiting receptacle ellipsoid, about 10-16 x 5-9 cm across, ripe carpels elliptic-ovoid, sharply beaked, woody, dehiscent by the ventral side, separating from the axis, about 3-4 cm long, seeds about 3-4 in a carpel, compressed, obovoid, planoconvex, glossy, red, about 1 cm long.

Evergreen forests altitude up to 3500 ft.

Local Distribution: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, West Bengal. Global Distribution: Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal.

(Attributions– Ganeshaiah, K. N., UAS, Bangalore, India. Kailash, B. R., UAS & ATREE, Bangalore, India. Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN), Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, India from India Biodiversity Portal)