Cucumber magnolia has a unique home in Missouri

The magnolia tree is a popular ornamental tree in Cape Girardeau County, in part because their gorgeous blooms and glossy foliage make them a landscape favorite.

If you like these trees, would it surprise you to find Missouri has its own magnolia? It's the cucumber magnolia, a longtime resident that shares many features with its southern U.S. relatives.

Take the large showy flower. Like the Southern magnolia, the tree's flowers are cup-shaped with large petals. All magnolia flowers have a pleasant scent attractive to insects. Cucumber magnolia differs from Southern magnolia because of its yellowish green flower petals instead of bright white. In April and May, you may catch this Cape Girardeau County tree blooming in woodland and forest valleys or in local yards.

The trunk is a typical magnolia trunk with smooth, thin, gray bark and limbs spread to provide a nice pyramid shaped crown. The leaves are just as simple as the more famous magnolias, only they are elliptical with a smooth margin. The leaf tips have a small point which is where the species name comes from: Magnolia acuminata. Acuminata means "pointed leaf."

Each autumn, the nonglossy leaves drop, which is different than the Southern magnolia. Cucumber is hardier than Southern or Northern magnolia and less likely to be killed by freeze. Before this deciduous magnolia responds to autumn, it produces a cone unique to magnolias. Inside the cone are tightly-packed, dried fruit-like seeds. They turn bright red when the cone opens and hang by a thread until dislodged. Squirrels, mice, opossums, raccoons and turkey eat the seeds. So do many song birds big enough to manipulate the cones.

Forest-savvy Native Americans and settlers used cucumber magnolia for home remedies. Modern science has yet to substantiate the claims, but cucumber magnolia bark was used for a tea that was intended to treat malaria and typhoid fever. This tea was also thought to cure toothache, rheumatism, worms and indigestion.

Lumber uses are easier to verify. Missouri's magnolia tree can be used to make boxes, crates, paneling, lower grade furniture and cabinets. The wood isn't ugly but it also isn't as luxurious as oak or walnut.

Cucumber magnolia has been used as a landscape tree since 1736 because of the tree's pleasant shape and showy fragrant flowers. These unique trees also have decorated the landscape of Scott, Butler, Stoddard and Cape Girardeau counties for a long time. More common in the Appalachian forests of the Deep South, cucumber magnolia is at home in rich forests and yards alike.

As you hike in the forest, be on the lookout for cucumber magnolia. While not as distinctive as its evergreen relatives, this magnolia deserves notice and a prominent place in Southeast Missouri landscapes. Collecting the seed would allow you to start your own seedlings from scratch. Growing instructions will help your seedlings become a permanent resident of your landscape.

A.J. Hendershott is an area agent with the Missouri Department of Conservation.