Magnolia virginiana
Origin: New Jersey
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~12
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Also called laurel magnolia or just sweetbay, the sweetbay magnolia is a charming native magnolia with glossy green leaves and beautiful fragrant white flowers that have a pleasing lemony smell. It can be found in swamps, wet woods and savannahs, especially with acid soils, from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Missouri and Tennessee. The often-evergreen leaves are sometimes used as a bayleaf-like flavoring or tea.
Sweetbay bark is considered highly medicinal, with antiperiodic, diaphoretic, laxative, stimulant and tonic properties. It has been used as a quinine substitute in treating malaria, and also for colds, bronchial diseases, upper respiratory tract infections, gout, and rheumatism. Bark is harvested in autumn and dried for future use, but does not store well, so is gathered annually. A tea from the fruit is also used medicinally, against stomach ailments and as a general health-improving tonic. Some sources say the aroma from the leaves or bark can be inhaled as a mild hallucinogen (we haven't tried it!). An essential oil from the flowers is used in making perfumes.
Sweetbay wood is straight-grained, light, soft, easily worked, and finishes well, so it is sometimes used in making furniture, broom handles, bowls, utensils, and other light wooden implements.
This New Jersey-grown seed comes to us from the good folks at Sheffield's Seed in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Widely adaptable, but prefers moist, acidic soil and partial shade. Soak sees for 24 hours, then fall plant or cold-moist stratify for 120 days. Hardy to USDA Zone 5.
NOTE: Photo of berries is from Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) and is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. Others are in the public domain, including the beautiful illustration by Mary Vaux Walcott (featuring two flowers).
