Eight species of magnolia are native to the United. States, the most important being southern magnolia

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1 .DOCS A 13.31:M 27/97 MAGNOLIA t Eight pecie of magnolia are native to the United State, the mot important being outhern magnolia and weetbay. Magnolia wood reemble yellowpoplar in appearance and propertie. lt i light in color; the apwood i white, the heartwood light to dark brown. Of moderate denity, high in hock reitance, and eay to work, it i ued chiefly for furniture, kitchen cabinet, and interior woodwork requiring paint linihe. Some i made into veneer or ue in boxe and crate. U.S. Department of Agriculture jret Service TÁmerican WoodFS,-25 Revied July 197

2 . I MAGNOLIA (Magnolia grand flora and Magnolia virginiana) Loui C. Maienhelder DISTRIBUTION The range of outhern magnolia (Magnolia granditi ora) include a narrow trip, approximately 1 mile wide, taking in the coat of South Carolina and the extreme outheat corner of North Carolina ; roughly outhern Georgia, Alabama, and Miiippi ; the northern half of Florida; and part of Louiiana, outhern Arkana, and eat Texa (fig. 1). It greatet abundance (and, therefore, commercial importance) i in Louiiana, Miiippi, and Texa, where it occur on relatively moit bottomland ite. In the upland, it grow on middle and lower lope in deep rich oil and in branch head. The range of weetbay (Magnolia virginiana) i imilar to that of outhern magnolia except that it extend farther north. The pecie grow along the Atlantic Coatal Plain from Long Iland outh through New Jerey and outheatern Pennylvania to outhern Florida, wet to eatern Texa, and north into outhern Arkana and outhwet Tenneee; alo locally in eatern Maachuett. It greatet abundance i in eatern Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. In bottomland, it occur mainly eat of the Miiippi River in muck wamp of the Coatal Plain. In upland, it occur only in moit treamhead of the lower Coatal Plain. DESCRIPTION AND GROWTH The magnolia are among the oldet tree pecie in the world, dating back almot to the age of the ginko. b a Figure 1.-Natural Range for Southern Magnolia i Retired, formerly ilviculturit, Southern Hardwood Laboratory, Southern Foret Experiment Station, USDA Foret Service, Stoneville, Mi. 3

3 Bruh (1956) report that "the preent member are remnant of a very extenive group of North Temperate foret tree which formerly grew in central Europe, Siberia, wetern North America, Canada, and Greenland until they were puhed outh by the great glacier." Magnolia grow bet on moit, well.drained ite along tream or near wamp, but i alo found on low moit ite and treamhead in upland area. It i primarily a bouomland pecie occurring on the oldet alluvium and outwahe from upland. It cannot withtand flooding and o doe not occur on the firt bottom of the Miiippi River that were regularly flooded before the contruction of levee. It grow in mixture with a variety of other hardwood pecie in tand varying from ingle tree to mall group. Pure tand rarely occur or are very limited in area. On good ite, outhern magnolia tree may be 6 to 8 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet in diameter at 8 to 12 year of age. Sweetbay i generally a little maller, epecially in diameter. The larget outhern magnolia reported a of 1961 (on the Chickaawhay Ditrict, DeSoto National Foret, Mi.) wa 17 feet 8 inche in circumference at breat height and 11 feet tall. In 1965, a tree 18 feet in circumference at breat height and 99 feet tall wa reported in Baton Rouge, La. The record ize weetbay a of 1961 wa 11 feet in circumference and 95 feet tall, growing in Gaineville, Fla. Southern magnolia i a key pecie in only the beechouthern magnolia foret type. Among it other more important common tree aociate are weetgum, blackgum, yellow-poplar, oak, white ah, hickorie, weetbay, red maple, and American and winged elm. Sweetbay alo i a key pecie in only one foret typeweetbay-wamp tupelo-red maple. Some of it more important tree aociate in the variou type are: black and wamp tupelo, weetgum, water and willow oak, white and green ah, water tupelo, black willow, and red maple. Magnolia tree bear good eed crop practically every year under normal condition, and eed-bearing tree a young a 1 year of age have been reported. The tart of the optimum eed-bearing period i prob-. Figure 2.-Fruit, eed, and leaf hape of outhern magnolia (7/1 normal ize) -

4 -. b n ably nearer 25 year under foret condition. The eed i normally dieminated by bird and mammal, but ome may be pread by heavy rain and poibly by wind. Seed of outhern magnolia ha a germinative capacity of about 5 percent, while that of weetbay varie from 5 to 75 percent. In pite of thi, reproduction of both pecie i erratic ; both alo prout poorly but are fairly tolerant once etablihed, epecially while young. More light i required a the tree become older. Sweetbay i frequently an undertory tree in black tupelo and baldcypre tand. Growth rate average poor to medium, though it i quite rapid for the firt few year under favorable condition. The flower of the magnolia are white, numerou, and very attractive. Southern magnolia bloom are the larget, 6 to 9 inche acro, a compared to 2 to 3 inche acro for weetbay bloom, which, however, have the weetet odor. The fruit i an ovoid to cylindric cone, roe-colored, and 3 to inche long by 11/2 to 2 inche in diameter for outhern magnolia; and dark red, 2 inche long and 1/2 inch in diameter for weetbay. On opening, the flattened, obovoid, 1/. to 1/2. inch long eed emerge, hanging upended for a time by fine ilky thread (fig. 2). The leave are imple, alternate, elliptic or oval, with acute or obtue apexe and wedge.haped bae ; the margin are entire. Southern magnolia leave are hiny dark green above, ruty tomentoe (covered with denely matted hair) below, coriaceou (leatherlike) and evergreen, to 9 inche long and 2 to 3 inche wide. Sweetbay leave are green above, finely pubecent (covered with oft hair) and nearly white below, 3 to 6 inche long by i to 21/2 inche wide, and in the South remain on the branche until new leave appear in the pring. Magnolia bark i 1/2 to 3% inche thick, gray or light brown, and on older tree develop mall appreed cale rarely more than 1-inch long (fig. 3). COMMON NAMES Southern magnolia i the favored common name for M. grandiflora, but it i alo called evergreen magnolia and bullbay. Though M. virginiana i preferably called weetbay by the Foret Service, it alo goe by the name weetbay magnolia, wampbay, outhern weetbay, evergreen magnolia, laurel magnolia, wamp magnolia, beaver-tree, whitebay, and white laurel. The lumber produced from both pecie i called imply magnolia. SUPPLY An accurate etimate of the total tand of awtimber ize magnolia for the early 196' i not available. Becaue of the cattered occurrence of thee pecie, foret urvey uually combine them and ometime even include other hardwood of limited frequence in the ame group. Becaue of thi, only rough etimate of timber volume are poible for thee pecie. In 195, the total tand of awtimber-ize outhern magnolia wa etimated a i billion board feet; no attempt wa made to etimate the amount of weetbay. Since then, it appear thi volume ha been decreaing. Table i how the latet available awtimber volume for the principal commercial State. Table 1.-Sawtimber volume of outhern magnolia and weetbay combined' State Volume Period Million bd. ft., Figure e r.! - 3.-Bark of outhern magnolia. - F Alabama Miiippi Louiiana Texa Arkana TOTAL 1,39.6 i Data were not available for Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.

5 PRODUCTION Lumber production figure for magnolia have varied greatly in amount produced ince they were firt lited eparately. After reaching a peak value of approxi. mately million board feet in 1937, production fell off, with periodic light recoverie, to a little over 23 million board feet in 192 and remained at about that level through 196 when it wa reported a 23,772, board feet. Unofficial etimate how that in 1966 thi volume may have again reached cloe to million board feet. In addition to lumber, a coniderable amount of magnolia wa alo ued for veneer and plywood, an increaing market. Report for 196 how a total ue of 56,953, quare feet (urface meaure) of mag. noua veneer-about half of which went into container. In the ame year, a total of 7,9, quare feet (urface meaure) of plywood wa ued by all indutrie combined. Mot of thi went into veneer, plywood, and millwork plant. CHARACTERISTICS AND PROPERTIES The apwood of magnolia i creamy white, and the heartwood i light to dark brown, often with greenihblack to purplih-black treak. The annual growth ring are ditinct and eaily een with the naked eye. The wood i even textured and moderately heavy (35.5 pound per cubic foot at 15 percent moiture content). It i fairly hard and traight-grained, cloely reembling yellow-poplar with which it wa marketed for a coniderable time. (More recently, with the recognition of adaptability for pecial ue, it ha been old motly under it own name.) It i moderately tiff, high in hock reitance, rather low in hrinkage, and ha average nail-holding ability. It tay in place well when properly eaoned, i readily worked, glue atifactorily, and take paint, tain, and natural finihe well, but ha only moderate to low durability if ued under condition favorable to decay. It impart little if any odor or tate when ued in food container. PRINCIPAL USES Of the eight magnolia pecie, only outhern magnolia and weetbay are commercially important a a ource of wood for manufactured product. The other ix pecie are ued chiefly for ornamental purpoe. Magnolia wood i utilized in two main clae of material, lumber and veneer, with hort log and bolt making up a third (but relatively unimportant) cla. The lumber i ued principally in the manufacture of furniture, epecially frame for upholtered item. Thi application account for mot of the lumber ued at the preent time, and the Southern Hardwood Lum- ber Manufacturer Aociation etimated to be poibly a great a 9 percent.2 The ret of the lumber i mainly ued in framing material for boxe and other kind of container, with a mall amount going into interior trim, cabinet work, door, and other micellaneou item. Twenty year ago, an important ue wa a lat for Venetian blind, but thi market ha now almot vanihed, except in a limited way, for very high-quality blind. Veneer i ued mainly in the manufacture of container and package, particularly wire-bound boxe and fruit baket. The ret of the veneer i chiefly ued in the manufacture of plywood, with a mall amount ued a face veneer on item detined for painting, taining, or natural finih in interior trim, tore fixture, cabinet work, and the like. Mot plywood produced i further remanufactured into uch item a cabinet work and door, with ome material of the lower grade being ued for container. Short log and bolt make up only a very mall part of the magnolia ued in indutry, and they are awed directly into quare and other form of the ize needed for furniture and other wooden product. 2 In correpondence, REFERENCES Bett, H. S Magnolia. USDA Foret Serv. Amer. Wood, 6 p., illu. Bruh, Warren D Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandi/lora L. ). Amer. Foret 52 : 32.33, illu. Bruh, Warren D Our native magnolia. Amer. Foret 62:, 31-32, 58-59, illu. Foret Service Woody-plant eed manual. U. S. Dep. Agr., Mic. Publication 65, 16 p., illu. Foret Service Foret tatitic for Alabama. U. S. Dep. Agr., Foret Survey Releae 73, 52 p., illu. Foret Service Foret of Louiiana, U. S. Dep. Agr., Foret Survey Releae 75, 6 p., illu. Foret Service Foret of eat Texa, U. S. Dep. Agr., Foret Survey Releae 77, 51 p., illu. Foret Service Miiippi foret. U. S. Dep. Agr., Foret Survey Releae 81, 52 p., illu. Foret Service Arkana foret. U. S. Dep. Agr., Foret Survey Releae 8, 58 p., illu.. 6

6 . * Il Foret Service Silvic of foret tree of the United State. U. S. Dep. Agr., Agr. Handbook 271, p , illu. Foret Service Wood ued in manufacturing indutrie. U. S. Dep Agr., Statit. Bull. 353, 121 p., illu. Harlow, W. M., and Harrar, E. S Textbook of dendrology. Fourth edition, 561 p., illu. Little, E. L., Jr Checklit of native and naturalized tree of the United State (including Alaka) - U. S. Dep. Agr., Agr. Handbook 1, 72 p. Putnam, John A., Furnival, George M., and McKnight J-S Management and inventory of outhern hardwood. U. S. Dep. Agr., Agr. Handbook 181, 12 p., illu. Society of American Foreter Foret cover type of North America (excluive of Mexico). 67 p., illu. Southern Hardwood Lumber Manufacturer Aociation The outhern hardwood. 52 p., illu. Memphi, Tenneee. Vine, R. A Tree, hrub, and woody vine of the Southwet. 11 p., illu. Univ. Tex. Pre, Autin. b e 7

7 . * ABOUT THE FOREST SERVICE... A our Nation grow, people expect and need more from their foret-more wood; more water, fih, and wildlife; more recreation and natural beauty; more pecial foret product and forage. The Foret Service of the U.S. Depart. ment of Agriculture help to fulfill thee expectation and need through three major activitie: Conducting foret and range reearch at over 75 location ranging from Puerto Rico to Alaka to Hawaii. Participating with all State foretry agencie in cooperative program to protect, improve, and wiely ue our 395 million acre of State, local, and private foret land. Managing and protecting the 187-million. acre National Foret Sytem. The Foret Service doe thi by encouraging ue of the new knowledge that reearch cientit develop; by etting an example in managing, under ulained yield, the National Foret and Graland for multiple ue purpoe; and by cooperating with all State and with private citizen in iheir effort to achieve better management, protection, and ue of foret reource. Traditionally, Foret Service people have been active member of the communitie and town in which they live and work. They trive to ecure for all, continuou benefit from the country' foret reource. For more than 6 year, the Foret Service ha been erving the Nation a a leading natural reource conervation agency. 8 *U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 197 O