Promised Spring

by Cheri Randolph

Title

Promised Spring

Artist

Cheri Randolph

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Photograph

Description

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant"

The tulip magnolia, an example of which is pictured, is celebrated in art and poetry all over Japan.

Magnolias were among the earliest flowering plants to appear on Earth, hundreds of millions of years ago. When great ice sheets covered much of the Northern Hemisphere, more than 2 million years ago, magnolias survived in the warmer forests of Asia and America. Their scent still attracts beetles and bees that crash-land on the large, simple flowers and tumble into the inner circle of stamens. The species pictured is the fragrant lily-flowered magnolia ( M. liliiflora ), which is purple on the outside and pale pink on the inside. A native of China, this species was probably introduced to Japan in the seventh century, along with the white flowering haku-mokuren ( M. denudata ). Later, in 1790, a British plant collector, the Duke of Portland, brought the purple magnolias to Europe.

Magnolia liliiflora (variously known by many names, including Mulan magnolia, Purple magnolia, Red magnolia, Lily magnolia, Tulip magnolia, Jane magnolia and Woody-orchid) is a small tree native to southwest China (in Sichuan and Yunnan), but cultivated for centuries elsewhere in China and also Japan. It was first introduced to English-speaking countries from cultivated Japanese origins, and is thus also sometimes called Japanese magnolia, though it is not native to Japan. It is now also planted as an ornamental in North America and Europe, though rather less often than its popular hybrid. The name Yulania liliiflora is a synonym.

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November 16th, 2012

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