Star Magnolia               mag-NO-li-a ste-LAH-ta

• Deciduous shrub/tree, 15-20 ft x 10-15 ft (4.5-6 x 3-4.5 m), dense oval to round, suckers are common.  Leaves alternate, simple, entire, 5-10 cm long, gradually tapering to base. Flower buds are densely pubescent, silvery, 8-13 mm long.   Usually the first magnolia to bloom in spring.  Flowers are 7.5-10 cm wide, with 12-18 petals (tepals), each strap-shaped, usually white, but some pink (stellata: star-like, the flowers).
• Sun to light shade, prefers a peaty, organic soil.  A popular Magnolia because it will flower when only 2-3 years old.  Plant in a location that will protect the flowers from damage to inclement spring weather.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5      Native to Japan, cultivated there for centuries.
• A number of cultivars are more or less available, Dirr (1998) lists about 25 and Sunset Western Garden Book lists 6, including:
  • ‘Rosea’  -  pinkish (reddish?) buds open to pink flowers that soon fade to white; several forms offered under this name.
  • ‘Royal Star’  -  silvery pale buds open to clear white flowers with up to 25 petals.  Very common in commerce, a seedling of ‘Waterlily’.
  • ‘Waterlily’  -  pinkish buds, fragrant white flowers flushed with pink, with more than 30 petals, flowers later than ‘Royal Star’, likely more than one clone sold under this name.  The English ‘Water Lily’ (two words) has no trace of pink in the flowers (Gardiner, 2000).
• Oregon State Univ. campus: east side of the Ag. and Life Sciences arch; also near the west entrance to Kidder Hall.