Rare Magnolia Tripetala Umbrella tree SEEDS Giant leaf Flower Tropical UK Hardy

Magnolia tripetala has large, ovate to oblong, shiny green leaves (to 24" long and to 10" wide) of this deciduous magnolia appear in whorl-like clusters at the stem tips, purportedly resembling the spokes of an umbrella. It is an understory tree that is native to rich moist woods, ravines, slopes and along streams in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania and West Virginia to North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky plus the Blue Ridge Mountains into South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. It is a small, often multi-trunked, tree that typically grows to 30' tall, but may rise to as much as 45' tall. Malodorus, bowl-shaped, creamy white flowers (to 6-10" across) bloom in spring shortly after the leaves emerge. Each flower has 6-9 (sometimes 12) petal-like tepals. Flowers are followed by cone-like pink fruits (to 4" long) that ripen in fall. Thin, smooth, gray bark.