It's too bad she doesn't have a photo of the flowers. Without them it looks like a Rubber Plant (Ficus elastic). If you snap off one of the leaves and the sap is white then it probably is a Rubber Plant. I'm no magnolia expert though so maybe someone out there can identify it as a magnolia. :)

It has white fragrant flower and was sold as "magnolia" tree. The flower has faded and she can't take any photos. So it is definitely not a rubber plant. I think I've made it very clear....

So my main question is that: what everygreen magnolia has white fragrant flowers with pointed petals? I know M. Alba is one of them.

Another photo:

Just so you know, they renamed it Magnolia Alba. They reclassified the Michelia trees to be Magnolias now. So, if it is Alba, which I doubt, technically it is classified correctly as being called a Magnolia, because now it is.

To me, the leaves do not look like m. alba. Too thick & shape is different. Somewhat like southern magnolia, but then there's no indumentum.
Possibly maudiae? If you break/bruise leaf, is it fragrant?

ps. why isn't my Home Depot sellling this stuff!

Hi can you remember if the flowers were at the top of the stem or on the leaf axil? might help to i.d the plant as magnolia flower on the tip and michelias flower on the leaf axil. And if you say it is evergreen the only other white very fragrant magnolia evergreen i know of apart from grandiflora which you have ruled out is magnolia nitida but again if you google it i think the flowers shape maybe wrong . But it will be hard with out the flower as there are hundreds of man made hybrids sorry i could not be more help

Just my 2 cents re magnolia/michelia. I love these plants and have owned/longed for a fair number of them. To me, the michelia group is quite distinct and easily identifiable. So, just as many refer to 'azaleas' rather than rhododendrons because it instantly narrows it down to a particular group of plants, I and probably many others do find it easier to refer to michelias for the sake of convenience. I notice too that many nurseries still tag them as michelias, likely for the same reason.

(Although I do use magnolia in my own plant tags as I'm a stickler for accuracy:) )

All southern magnolia, including the "dward" Little Gem, bear large flowers. But this flower is about 2" to 3" large, or about 1/2 of the palm.

Also, most S. Magnolia has bronze hairs on the back. But this one has pale grennish color.

It is not deciduous magnolia. The leaves are totally different.

I guess you don't have photo of flower?

Michelia is still a sub-genre of the magnolia family. I still like to use this name for the group.

I'll try to get a photo of the actual tree. The blooms have faded.

Just got the words. It is the star magnolia, which is the deciduous tree. I thought the leaves look different from the evergreen trees....

I have a star magnolia, and these leaves seem too big and I agree they don't look deciduous. Oh well, I guess it's all in the perspective.

Of commonly cultivated magnolias, the closest-looking species I can think of is M. maudiae. However, the stipules of the plant pictured are unlike maudiae. The way the stipules hang onto the nodes suggest it is actually Ficus elastica (of a type without the reddish hue).