Magnolia Sieboldiilia Stellata: Basics, Types, and Care

The Fairy Flower, or Magnolia sieboldii Stellata, is a deciduous small tree from the Magnolia family. It can grow up to 10 meters tall, with slender branches that are approximately 3 millimeters in diameter and have a light grayish-brown color, initially covered with flat silvery long soft hair.

It is native to Korea, Japan, and China, and is found in various regions within China, thriving in mountainous regions at altitudes between 1,600 and 2,000 meters. Its wood can be used for making agricultural tools, while its flowers can be used to extract essential oils.

The flower is beautifully colored and features long pedicels that sway with the wind, making it a popular ornamental tree species for gardens worldwide. The flower is also used medicinally and can be used to make extracts.

Growth and Distribution

Origin and Habitat

This plant thrives in mountainous regions at altitudes between 1,600 and 2,000 meters. It prefers to grow in damp mountain valleys and cracks in hillside rocks, favoring shady and moist conditions. In the Yellow Mountains of Anhui, it often grows alongside other species such as Lamp Tree and Chinese Elm.

The region has an average annual temperature of 7.7°C, an average January temperature of -3.4°C, and an average July temperature of 17.8°C, with an annual rainfall of approximately 2000 millimeters. The soil is primarily composed of mountainous yellow-brown earth, acidic in nature, with pH values ranging from 4.5-5 and containing about 10% organic matter.

Distribution Range

The Fairy Flower is native to Korea, Japan, and China.

Morphology and Characteristics

This small deciduous tree can grow up to 10 meters tall. Its slender branches, around 3 millimeters in diameter, exhibit a light grayish-brown color, initially covered in long soft silvery hair. The leaves are membranous, ovate or broad-ovate in shape, with an abrupt sharp tip and a broad wedge-shaped, blunt or nearly heart-shaped base.

The upper side of the midrib and the lateral veins are covered with curled soft hair, and the undersides are pale with scattered tiny golden dots. The midrib and lateral veins are covered in white long silky hair. Each leaf has 6-8 lateral veins on each side, covered in brown and white long hair. The leaf scars are about half the length of the leaf stalk.

The flowers bloom simultaneously with the leaves and are white, fragrant, cup-shaped, and disc-shaped when fully opened, with a diameter of 7-10 centimeters. The flower stalk is 3-7 centimeters long, densely covered with brown and grayish-white long soft hair, and the flowers are either flat or slightly drooping.

The tepals are almost equal in size, with the outer three being oblong-ovate or ovate and 4-6 centimeters long and 2.5-3.5 centimeters wide, and the base is covered with white hair. The inner two whorls of six tepals are relatively small and gradually narrow at the base into short claws. The stamens are purplish-red, 9-11 millimeters long, and the anthers are about 6 millimeters long, with the two anther chambers adjacent and longitudinally dehiscent inwards.

The stigma is slightly concave or flat and does not protrude, with a filament length of 3-4 millimeters. The pistil group is elliptical, green, and about 1.5 centimeters long.The mericarp is narrowly elliptical, about 1 centimeter long, and completely split along the dorsal suture line.

The apex has a beak about 2 millimeters long. The seeds are heart-shaped, with a false seed coat of orange-red and an outer seed coat of deep brown, 6-7 millimeters long and wide, with a small hole at the top end and a pointed tip.

Reproduction Methods

Seed Collection and Storage

Collection

The local Magnolia sieboldii seeds from Tangkou Town, Huangshan are the best choice for nursery propagation. We select mother trees that are robust, free of diseases and pests, and about 20 years old.

The optimal time for seed collection is five days after the start of the White Dew period, when the aggregate fruits have turned yellow-green. The fruits are knocked down with a long bamboo pole for collection. A total of 165 kilograms of aggregate fruit were collected, placed in a cool place for seven days of fermentation, and then sun-dried for three days.

During the drying period, the seeds are frequently turned with a rake. Once the seeds have fallen out of the aggregate fruit, the fruit pulp is sifted out, small debris removed, and then the seeds are washed with flowing river water until clean. The weight of a thousand seeds is 52.1 grams.

Storage

We use low-temperature storage. First, Magnolia sieboldii seeds are placed in a cool, well-ventilated and dry place for 5-7 days. Once the moisture content of the seeds has decreased to about 15%, they are stored at low temperature. During storage, the seeds should be placed in breathable hemp or cloth bags to ensure good air permeability.

Each bag of seeds should not exceed 20 kilograms, and the storage temperature should be between 3-5°C. The seeds are stored in a cold storage facility, and they are checked every 15 days to prevent mold. If they are stored in bulk, they should be turned upside-down during inspection to ensure good air permeability for the seeds.

Seed Treatment

The outer seed coat of Magnolia sieboldii is quite thick, leading to uneven germination if no seed treatment is conducted. Therefore, prior to sowing, the seeds must undergo germination treatment.

Seeds are taken out of cold storage and spread out in a cool place for 1-2 days. They are then washed in clean water to remove floating seeds, and rubbed several times by hand until the seeds are clean and the outer seed coat is rough.

Afterwards, seeds are soaked in a 2% copper sulfate solution for about 20 minutes, continuously stirred with a wooden stick during the process. The seeds are then removed and washed with running water 2-3 times. After treatment, the germination rate of the seeds is around 74%.

The germination time for Magnolia sieboldii seeds is generally around March 10. After disinfection, the seeds are soaked in 45°C water for 30 hours, changing the warm water 3-4 times during the soaking period, stirring each time to ensure uniform heating of the seeds. The seeds are then placed in a damp hemp bag and moved to a room with a temperature of 20°C for germination.

Every day, the seeds are rinsed 2-3 times with 45°C warm water, turning them over each time and draining excess water from the bag to prevent the seeds from rotting due to excessive water content. After about 8 days, when more than 15% of the seeds have started to sprout, they are ready for sowing.

Site Selection

Magnolia sieboldii is not shade-tolerant throughout its nursery period. Therefore, the nursery site should be a place that is sheltered from the wind and facing the sun. It should also have a low groundwater level, good irrigation and drainage, moderate sandy soil, convenient transportation, and the previous crop should ideally be rice.

Land Preparation and Bed Making

Sowing of Magnolia sieboldii started on March 15. Ten days before sowing, well-rotted organic fertilizer (22.5 tons/hectare), phosphate fertilizer (450 kg/hectare), rapeseed cake fertilizer (1.5 tons/hectare), compound fertilizer (525 kg/hectare), and ferrous sulfate (375 kg/hectare) were evenly spread on the field.

After multiple ploughings, the nursery field must be deeply turned around 45 centimeters, and then the nursery field is made into a north-south nursery bed. The seedbed is 35 centimeters high, 80 centimeters wide, and 12-15 meters long, with a trench width of 40 centimeters in the middle of the bed.

When preparing the seedbed, the surface soil of the seedbed should be finely smoothed, or the middle of the seedbed should be slightly higher than the sides, mainly to facilitate drainage of the bed.

Sowing and Seedling Cultivation

Before sowing, evenly spread a 5-centimeter layer of yellow heart soil on the well-prepared seedbed to reduce weed growth during the seedling stage. The germinated seeds are evenly sown on the bed surface, with a sowing rate of about 100-120 seeds per square meter.

Then, a 1 cm layer of loose yellow heart soil is covered, watered thoroughly with a fine spray, and covered with clean straw for thermal insulation and moisture retention. It should be noted that the straw on the bed surface should be pressed down with wooden sticks to prevent wind blowing.

From sowing to seedling emergence, the seedbed should be checked regularly to prevent damage from birds and animals and wind. The seeding rate is about 127.5 kilograms per hectare, and the germination rate of the seeds is over 65%.

Seedbed Management

After mid-April, the seeds begin to emerge one after another. When about 30% of the seeds have emerged, the covering straw is removed on a sunny evening. The next evening, spray a 600-fold liquid solution of carbendazim to prevent seedling diseases.

The seedlings will emerge uniformly around 10 days later. Early stage seedlings generally do not require fertilization, but the seedbed must be kept moist. Timely clean the seedbed trenches to ensure smooth drainage on rainy days.

When the seedlings grow to about 8 centimeters high, thinning should be conducted along with transplantation. The number of seedlings retained is 35 per square meter, and excess seedlings can be transplanted elsewhere. Both before and after thinning and transplanting seedlings, water must be thoroughly applied to prevent the fragile roots of the seedlings from affecting their survival.

From June to August, fertilize once every 20 days or so, with a fertilizer application rate of 30-75 kilograms per hectare. Fertilization can be done together with weeding. During the rainy season, it is important to pay attention to flood control.

During continuous drought, flood irrigation should be applied to the seedbed to ensure normal growth of the seedlings. Stop fertilizing in early August to promote lignification of the seedlings and facilitate normal overwintering of the seedlings. The seedlings can be transplanted and planted in the following spring.

Value and others

Research Value

This species is discontinuously distributed in China, North Korea, and Japan, and it holds scientific value for studying botanical geography.

Ornamental Value

The plant is beautiful, with fragrant white flowers, making it a valuable ornamental plant and an important genetic resource.

Economic Value

Its wood can be used to make agricultural tools, and aromatic oil can be extracted from its flowers.

Medicinal Value

Its flowers can be used in traditional medicine to make extracts.