Photo: KATHERINE WAGNER-REISS, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cucumber Magnolia
Magnolia acuminata
Also called cucumbertree, cucumber tree.
The hardiest and largest native magnolia, a fast-growing shade tree with cucumber-shaped fruit that ripens to red.
Showy flowersRareWildlife valueFall color
- Type
- Large tree
- Mature height
- 50–80 ft
- USDA zones
- 4–8
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Sun
- Full · Part
- Soil moisture
- Average
210
Cucumber magnolia grows into a tall, straight forest tree with a pyramidal crown and huge leaves. Its greenish-yellow spring flowers are modest, but the knobbly fruit turns scarlet in late summer and birds feast on the seeds. It wants deep, moist, slightly acid soil and room to grow; there it puts on two to three feet a year.
Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. Estimate growth for this species →
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