Southern Magnolia
Glossy evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, red-seeded cones, and deep cultural familiarity make this both Mississippi’s state tree and state flower.
Artwork inspired by Mildred Nungester Wolfe
Southern magnolia is a large evergreen native to moist woods of the southeastern Coastal Plain and widely planted far beyond that core. Its thick glossy leaves have rusty-brown undersides; huge fragrant flowers open sequentially rather than covering the crown at once, and cone-like fruits later expose red seeds used by wildlife.
Mississippi designated the magnolia as both state flower and state tree, giving a common native plant unusual symbolic visibility. Mature trees cast dense shade, drop tough leaves and cones, and need room for roots and lower limbs. Cultivars differ greatly in mature size, so a nursery label matters more than the idealized tree on a state emblem.
- Best clue
- Huge white flowers and rusty leaf undersides
- Habitat
- Moist woods, streets, campuses, and gardens
- Mississippi status
- Mississippi state tree and flower
Quick guide
- Leaf
- Glossy above, rusty felt below
- Fruit
- Cone opens to bright red seeds
Recognize it in the field
- Leaf
- Read large, leathery evergreen blade with a glossy top and usually rusty felt beneath when identifying Southern Magnolia.
- Flower
- Compare very large creamy-white, strongly fragrant bloom with thick tepals and many central parts together with cone opens to bright red seeds before accepting the identification.
- Fruit
- Moist woods, streets, campuses, and gardens; evergreen year-round.
- Form
- Use distance to observe broad dense crown; lower limbs may sweep near the ground when not repeatedly pruned.
Good to know
The species is familiar enough to be misidentified: several magnolias grow in Mississippi, and many southern-magnolia cultivars differ in size and leaf character. Fallen cones are heavy, and dense shade limits what grows beneath old trees.