UBC Botanical Garden is a magical place in early spring, in large part because of its extensive collection of flowering magnolias. The majority of magnolias in the David C. Lam Asian Garden open their fragrant white or pink flowers early in the spring before their leaves emerge.
JoinÂ
Douglas Justice (Associate Director and Curator of Collections) andÂ
Andy Hill (Asian Garden Curator) for a special 1½ hour tour of the magnificent magnolia trees planted throughout the Garden.
The genus Magnolia is named for the 17th Century French botanist, Pierre Magnol. There are some 200 or so species of Magnolia in the world, most of them evergreens that inhabit the mountain forests of Southeast Asia and Central and South America, but some are temperate species found in east Asia and eastern North America.
Magnolias are among the most ancient of flowering plant lineages. There are a number of characteristics that indicate this, including that the flower parts are spirally arranged, rather than in definite whorls, and that the showy, outer flower parts are not differentiated into separate sepals and petals, as they are with the flowers of most recently evolved plants. The name for these undifferentiated petal-like structures is tepals. As well, Magnolia flowers are pollinated exclusively by beetles; they are not adapted to pollination by bees or other modern insects, which partly explains why the flowers are so large and sturdy.
This specialty tour* will be offered three times during the day:
- 11:00 a.m.
- 1:30 p.m.
- 3:00 p.m.
We also have some great workshops coming up that are filling up fast. Reserve your space now:
