Magnolia pyramidata, the Pyramid magnolia, is a very rare tree, and in Texas it’s restricted to the eastern counties of Jasper and Newton in deeply wooded sandy ridges. You can tell it from southern magnolia and sweet bay by the deciduous leaves, about 9 inches long and 4 inches wide, with earlike lobes at the base and whorls around the stem. The terminal flowers are white and fragrant and the rosy-red seed pods are two and a half inches long and longer.  To grow successfully it needs acidic, sandy, moist soils and at least a little shade.  It makes a nice small tree and the seed pods are a real plus in late summer.

It calls home the rich woods and river bluffs, mostly in the coastal plain, sometimes lower piedmont.  Never abundant, it is found in small colonies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippii, South Carolina and Texas.

Magnolia pyramidata differs from the allopatric M. fraseri in being a smaller tree with a narrower, pyramidal habit; M. pyramidata is very local and nowhere abundant. Morphologically, M. pyramidata differs from M. fraseri in the pandurate leaf blades, smaller flowers and stipules, fewer stamens and pistils, and smaller follicetums. Magnolia pyramidata is occasionally cultivated, but it is less hardy than M. fraseri.

Seed are easy to germinate if not allowed to totally dry out.  A month of stratification is sufficient.

In the last year, we have enjoyed hosting a number of botanists to the East Texas population.  These expeditions are adventures in the special places of East Texas.  We are unsure of the record tree, but an old report suggests that the largest known tree of Magnolia pyramidata may be in Texas.  Over twenty years ago, this tree was 11.9m in height with a trunk diameter of 69 cm, was recorded from Newton County, Texas (American Forestry Association 1994).  We will get it remeasured.  In an expedition in August 2016, Keith Stephens led a motley crew of botanists, including Darren Duling, Greg Paige, Andrew Bunting, Peter Loos, Jerrel and Darrel Durham  and others to the big tree on Campbell land.   I am still looking for the circumference data and will post later.

Measuring the big one

Greg Paige of Bartlett Tree holding a branch with a fat seed pod

Emma Spence of the Morton Arboretum visited East Texas and collected tissue samples for DNA analysis.  She was on the final leg of an across the South expedition to gather tissue from the different populations across the South.  She was unable to find ANY wild populations left in Louisiana and it was apparent that development has taken a toll in our sister state to the East.  The East Texas population is on Campbell Group land and Keith Stephens was wonderful to show us around with Emma.  She was quick to announce that the colony population was greater than any of the sites in states to our East, estimated at over 1000 plants.

Emma Spence of the Morton Arboretum collecting tissue in July 2017 in East Texas for DNA analysis

For now, the champion tree is in Florida and in 2010 enjoyed a 68″ circumference and a height of 102 feet with a crown spread of 39′.  Good friend Richard May was the finder of this amazing tree near Gadsden, Florida and took a couple of images for us to share.  I now have pyramid magnolia envy.

Richard May and Forest Service lady in 2010 in Florida

Richard May image near Gadsden, Florida

Vitex rotundifolia – Is beach Vitex a beauty or a beast? Good grief! Isn’t this an invasive species? Isn’t this the dreaded “Kudzu of the beach” now threatening the Carolina dunes? Isn’t this the focus of all kinds of eradication campaigns? Why would any serious horticulturist even talk about a plant like this, much less write about it? Well, we’d just like to quietly point out that there many areas of the southern USA where it’s quite common in landscapes – and it’s simply just another interesting non-invasive exotic plant. That’s the case in our region of Texas. With over thirty years of experience with this hardy evergreen species in the USA – it’s an immigrant from Hawaii, believe it or not – we can now say there are many parts of the South where beach Vitex is rather tame. This is a species grown in fairly large numbers from a wide range of wholesale nurseries in Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana. Considering the fact that this is one tough immigrant from Hawaii, and the fact it’s easy to keep alive, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it appears here to stay. Given a little positive horticulture, the plant can be downright beautiful, and it’s in that vein the plant can be used.

First, let’s give testimony and respect to the species as a landscape candidate, without discounting its invasive potential in areas where it finds itself too much at home. Writing this piece conjures up memories – twenty years ago – of some officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department visiting J.C. Raulston, Director of the North Carolina State University Arboretum, and suggesting to him that promoting, growing, thinking about or touching this plant was just about the most horrible thing a horticulturist could do. Yes, this plant is easy to grow. In coastal sandy spots, it can go where you don’t want it to, and when it’s there it can and will smother native vegetation. It can be a bad boy. So here’s the rule: In those sections of the country that beach Vitex is way too frisky for its own good, don’t plant it, and, when you see it, kill it. In our Zone 8 region of Texas, we have never seen a seedling . . . and if landscapers used the plant as described in this treatise, well, the end result is no problem. As a groundcover in our region, beach Vitex is not that voracious. At the San Antonio Botanical Garden in Texas (a bit warmer than Nacogdoches, Texas in the winter and summer), Paul Cox reports that it’s “manageable”. Knowing Paul Cox, that might not be too good. At any rate, experience is a good teacher.

First, how bad is this plant? Well, it is a native of the USA, but only because it comes from Hawaii. First introduced as an exciting groundcover over 30 years ago as a potential groundcover for sunny dry spots, this introduction made its way to the sand dunes of South Carolina, and it’s there that beach Vitex has come to be quite frightening. This brief note isn’t intended to stir up a fight in the horticultural crowd. The invasive exotic issue is real and one that deserves respect and attention. We know that. However, an invasive in one spot can be quite docile in another and it’s in that vein this article is presented.

If you happen to live in a region of the USA where beach Vitex never throws seedlings – and where it’s easily managed in a run – the plant does have attributes. We have long enjoyed it as a vine in our “line of vines” collection. The foliage is beautiful, clean and fully evergreen. The blooms are relatively inconspicuous coming in the fall as blue spikes. While attractive up close, they are never overwhelming. Our most conspicuous specimen in the Mast Arboretum “line of vines” was trained to a post and never failed to gain approval by visitors. We had evaluated this plant for over 20 years.  Unfortunately, with some misunderstood directions, this old specimen was cut to the ground and destroyed by well-intentioned staff.  A lost but not the end of the world.  We’ve used the plant as a vine and as a groundcover and found that it responds to an occasional shearing. Once again, let me repeat, we’ve never seen a seedling in our Zone 8 garden (not that we won’t find one tomorrow!) –

As far as we’re concerned the Chinese evergreen dogwood is one durable plant.  It’s been a surprise here in East Texas for over two decades.  Given a little soil drainage and some protection from the western sun, it develops into a fine specimen small tree.  The bloom show on a good sized tree can be stunning, a cloak of white flowers for several weeks in mid summer.  The blooms are followed by interesting sweet red fruits which are edible. While not about to take over the grocery chains in the South, they are good.  Extremely useful in a famine my friends in China would say.  In our winters the foliage remains dark green with only the harshest winter turning foliage slightly purple.  In particularly cold winters further North into Zone 7, the foliage might drop.  We have offered this tree for years in our plant sale and most find the tree easy to grow and pest free.  This is one of our favorite trees and we highly recommend growing one in your garden!

A seven year old tree in the Gayla Mize Garden