About this Kobushi Magnolia

Native to the mountains of Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan, Magnolia kobus is a deciduous tree, first introduced to cultivation in Britain in 1879 by Charles Maries.

RBGE staff have recently participated in fieldwork with local collaborators in Japan to collect wild seeds of this elegant tree, as part of the Garden’s work on global plant conservation. From these seeds young plants have been grown of which some have already been planted in the Garden: in future years, as they begin to flower, these will add to the spectacular display this tree produces. It can grow up to 10-15 m tall, and flowers in April before the leaves are produced. The flowers are pure white and fragrant with six petals of up to 10cm across. Although the flowers are not the largest of the genus they can be freely produced. When this large tree is in full flower in the spring it is a truly spectacular sight to behold.

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