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Botanical Name: Magnolia grandiflora ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
Common Name: Bracken’s Brown Beauty Southern Magnolia
Campus: Crosslands
Notable Feature: A very cold hardy clone (to -20º F) of our native Southern Magnolia. It was selected not only for its cold hardiness but for its magnificent, rich brown pubescence (indumentum) on the leaf’s underside and for its compact and dense growth habit.
Habit: Evergreen, densely pyramidal to oval in silhouette, reaching 30 to 50’ high and 15 to 30’ wide. Hardy in Zones 5b-9.
Foliage: Dark green and shiny above with striking brown indumentum on the underside lending a bi-color appearance to the foliage. The leathery leaves are 5 to 6“ long and about half as wide with undulating margins.
Flower: Creamy white with a lemon fragrance, the cup-shaped blooms are 5 to 6” in diameter and flower late spring into mid-summer with sparse flowering throughout the summer.
Fruit: Spherical, cone-like fruiting clusters, 2 to 3” long, mature in late summer and release rose-red coated seeds suspended on slender threads.
Interesting Fact: ‘Bracken's Brown Beauty’ gives northerners the opportunity to enjoy a shining example of southern hospitality -- the Southern Magnolia. It brings welcome greenery into northern winters, while in summer it adorns itself with abundant, white saucer-shaped blooms. Selected in 1968 by Ray Bracken at his nursery in Easley, SC.