MAGNOLIACEAE (magnolia family)
Plants trees.
Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate. Stipules large, membranous, enclosing the
leaf buds, shed as the leaves develop and leaving a circular ring around the
twig at the node, often partially fused to the petiole base. Flowers produced
as the leaves develop (earlier elsewhere), solitary and terminal on branch
tips, perfect, hypogynous, the buds enclosed in 1 or 2 sheathing bracts, these
shed as the bud opens. Perianth sometimes not clearly differentiated into calyx
and corolla, the tepals 9–15, in whorls of 3, usually shed after flowering and
leaving noticeable scars, usually thickened and somewhat waxy or leathery.
Stamens numerous, free, densely packed around the elongated receptacle, shed
after dehiscence and leaving noticeable scars, the filaments relatively short,
poorly differentiated from the anthers, the anthers dehiscing longitudinally.
Pistils numerous, free, hairy, densely packed around the elongated receptacle,
each with 1 carpel, the ovary superior and with 1 or 2 ovules, the style and
stigma 1. Fruits conelike aggregates of samaras or follicles. Seeds (1)2 per
samara or follicle. Six or 7 genera, 165–225 species, nearly worldwide.