Rosea Star Magnolia, Pink Star Magnolia               mag-NO-li-a ste-LAH-ta

• Deciduous tree, flowers buds are pink to pink-red, opening flowers are pink but fade to white.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5
• According to Jacobson (1996, p. 332) this pink form of Star Magnolia was introduced to North America from Japan by an Oakland, California nursery sometime after 1885.  The Veitch nursery in England independently imported it from Japan in 1893.  The name 'Rosea' has been applied to more than a single pink clone, partly because seedlings from the original selection, which of course would not be genetically identical to the maternal parent, occasionally exhibit pink flowers.  Such seedlings likely have been sold as 'Rosea'.  Because of this inconsistency, Jacobson gives rosea status as a botanical forma (forma or f.), hence M. stellata f. rosea. Actually he lists it as M. kobus var. stellata f. rosea, since he, as well as others, consider M. stellata a botanical variety (var.) of M. kobus, and hence the full Latin name as M. kobus var. stellata f. rosea