Editing Magnolia (section)

== Description ==
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 |caption = Mature magnolia fruit just starting to open, with a few seeds visible
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[[File:Magnolia biondii.jpg|thumb|An anatomical diagram of the flower of ''Magnolia biondii'']] [[File:Magnolia Fruit (South America).JPG|thumb|''Magnolia'' seeds and fruit]]

Magnolias are spreading [[evergreen]] or [[deciduous]] trees or shrubs characterised by large fragrant [[Flower|flowers]], which may be bowl-shaped or star-shaped, in shades of white, pink, purple, green, or yellow. In deciduous species, the blooms often appear before the leaves in spring. Cone-like fruits are often produced in the autumn.<ref name=RHSAZ>{{cite book |author-last=Brickell |author-first=Christopher |title=The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants |year=2008 |edition=3rd |page=661 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-4053-3296-5}}</ref>

As with all [[Magnoliaceae]], the [[perianth]] is undifferentiated, with  9–15 [[tepals]] in three or more [[Whorl (botany)|whorls]]. The flowers are [[Hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]], with numerous [[Adnation|adnate]] [[carpels]] and [[stamens]] arranged in a spiral fashion on the elongated [[Receptacle (botany)|receptacle]]. The flowers' carpels are often damaged by pollinating beetles.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Convergent evolution and adaptive radiation of beetle-pollinated angiosperms |last=Bernhardt |first=P. |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |volume=222 |issue=1–4 |pages=293–320 |date=2000 |url=http://www.uvm.edu/~dbarring/241/bernhardt2000.pdf |doi=10.1007/bf00984108 |bibcode=2000PSyEv.222..293B |s2cid=25387251 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223060505/http://www.uvm.edu/~dbarring/241/bernhardt2000.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-23}}</ref>

The fruit [[dehisces]] along the dorsal sutures of the carpels. The [[pollen]] is [[Pollen#Structure|monocolpate]], and the embryonic development is of the [[Polygonum]] type.{{cn|date=June 2024}} [[Taxonomy (biology)|Taxonomists]], including James E. Dandy in 1927, have used differences in the fruits of Magnoliaceae as the basis for classification systems.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.magnoliasociety.org/resources/Journal/Images/1986-2011_ISSUES_41-90/ISSUE%2072_09-21_THOSE%20AMAZING%20MAGNOLIA%20FRUITS_RICHARD%20B.%20FIGLAR.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.magnoliasociety.org/resources/Journal/Images/1986-2011_ISSUES_41-90/ISSUE%2072_09-21_THOSE%20AMAZING%20MAGNOLIA%20FRUITS_RICHARD%20B.%20FIGLAR.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Those Amazing Magnolia Fruits |author=Richard B. Figlar |website=Magnoliasociety.org |access-date=2022-03-12}}</ref>

[[File:Magnolia x soulangeana.jpg|thumb|right|''Magnolia'' × ''soulangeana'']]