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Saucer Magnolia Scientific Name: Magnolia soulangiana Common Name: Saucer Magnolia Division: Magnoliophyta Family: Magnoliaceae Genus: Magnolia GENERAL DESCRIPTION One of the three essential flowering trees — Magnolia, Cherry, and Crabapple — the Saucer Magnolia can bloom as early as late March, long before it, or anything else, has leafed out.  Because of the early spring flowering, the bloom is often affected by frost, which can turn the lovely whitish-purple flowers to a slimy, shriveled mess. Saucer Magnolias at the south end  of Literary Walk

Flower   Large, goblet-shaped, 4 to 8 inches, appearing before tree leafs out.  Petals, which are actually called tepals, are white to purplish-pink. Fruit A 4-inch long cone-like structure (but not a cone) from which orange to red seeds emerge. Leaf   Flat, ovate with smooth margins. 3 to 6 inches long, dark green on top, paler green underneath. Bark   Smooth, mottled silvery-gray. Very attractive, making a significant addition to the winter landscape.   Form: Small-sized tree, up to 20 feet. Can be a single or more commonly multi-stem.  Main branches low on trunk, variable spread. LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL PARK  East side of Wien Walk near the Central Park Zoo, East 63rd Street near Fifth Avenue East Drive at 83rd Street  Obelisk, east side at 81st Street  Shakespeare Garden, west side between 79th and 80th Streets  South of Rumsey Playfield  East Drive at 68th Street  Upper Dene  Ramble, mid-Park from 73rd to 79th Streets  88th Street and Central Park West  Bethesda Terrace, mid-Park at 72nd Street  Conservatory Garden Photo Credit: Steve Baskauf, bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/ (leaf, flower, bark) Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN), www.inspire.net/trees/ (fruit) Matthew Brown, Central Park Conservancy Neil Calvanese, Central Park Conservancy