Did you know that your tree has the distinction of having the largest leaf and flower of any indigenous to N. America?
Thanks for sharing.

Honker is right!! And it's wonderfully fragrant to boot. This is the most tropical looking hardy plant one can imagine -- looks like it should be located in a jungle, like some sort of exotic flowering banana :-)

Congratulations on your first flower!!

After many years of growth (it was of some size when purchased and planted) mine bloomed for a few to several years and then got leveled by honey fungus.

I think an onlooker did once ask me if it was a banana plant.

Good grief that is a whopper!! Fantastic.

Actually, sam, I heard the largest leaf distinction belongs to Aralia spinosa. That is a compound leaf, so perhaps the largest simple leaf award belongs to M. macrophylla.

calliope - are your M. tripetala and M. macrophylla blooming at the same time? In my garden they are about a month apart, so I was curious if they overlapped for you (and therefore could hybridize). My M. macrophylla, btw, does not have that purple marking.

Congratulations! I was so excited when mine bloomed about 4 years ago for the first time. Now I am waiting on M. asheii to do the same. Here is my M. macrophylla (thankfully on a low hanging branch!):

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Yes, the bloom period is overlapping this year and the thought of hybridising them occured to me. Although I've read that macrophylla have poor germination. I love the less planted indigenous magnolias and am thankful I have the acreage I can indulge my fancy with them. My m. biondii put on a show this year and was actually the first flowering tree to rip, beating the downy shadblow. It bloomed several days before a frost bit it.

I'm curious about the lack of purple markings on your's. I received my specimen from an arboretum. Was your's purchased through the trade? Yes, the macrophylla is the largest simple leaf.

Mine is from a local indigenous population in Cherokee County Georgia. Likewise for the M. tripetala. The M. asheii is one that I bought.

In the last 5 years, I don't think I've gotten a single viable seed from either my M. macrophylla or M. tripetala.

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Sweltering hot & muggy here, in the 90's. This is my Ashe's Magnolia which is like M. macrophylla's little brother. Purple stain is inside the petal, notice the whiteish underside of the one leaf.
What is the evolutionary advantage to the Magnoliaceae by having such large and fragrant flowers?