# Pyramid Magnolia (Magnolia pyramidata)

> A rare magnolia of southern bluffs and ravines, with creamy white flowers 5 to 7 inches across and kite-shaped leaves eared at the base.

Also called ear-leaf umbrellatree, Magnolia fraseri var. pyramidata. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pyramid-magnolia/

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 10 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9
- Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes, the forest understory and stream banks
- Native range: 9 states, north to Kentucky, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas)
- Sun: Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Tolerates shade, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Pyramid magnolia is a slender tree of the southern coastal plain, named by William Bartram for its narrow, pyramid-shaped crown. Some botanists treat it as a variety of Fraser magnolia, a larger tree of the southern mountains. It is very local and nowhere abundant. NatureServe ranks it apparently secure overall, but critically imperiled in Texas and South Carolina and imperiled in Georgia and Louisiana. Florida lists it as endangered. Grow it as a specimen in the dappled shade of taller trees, where its whorls of eared leaves can be seen up close.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, a foot and a half a year. It makes a slender tree of 10 to 30 feet with a crown 10 to 25 feet wide. The largest on record, in Newton County, Texas, was 39 feet tall.

The flowers open in April and May, creamy white and 5 to 7 inches across. A bright red cone up to 3 inches long follows and ripens in August. Birds and small mammals eat the red seeds and spread them.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from South Carolina to the Florida panhandle and west to eastern Texas, on rich wooded bluffs, ravine slopes and stream banks. Florida counts 24 known populations, a quarter of them on private land. In 2018 Hurricane Michael felled most of the mature trees surveyed at Torreya State Park.

## How to grow Pyramid Magnolia

Pyramid magnolia grows best in part shade or dappled shade, in a rich, acid soil of sand, clay or loam. The soil should stay moist but never flood. Plant it 15 feet from a wall, and set trees 15 feet apart. Keep it at least 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Magnolia roots are thick and fleshy and heal slowly in cold ground, so plant at the end of winter or as growth starts. Dig a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sow the seed fresh in fall, cleaned of its red coat, and never let it dry. Cover it half an inch deep, under hardware cloth against mice. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for at least 60 days first.

Water weekly through the first two summers and in long dry spells after that. Keep a wide ring of mulch over the roots. Deer and rabbits browse young magnolias, so guard the stem with wire for the first few years. Prune only while it is growing, since dormant magnolias heal poorly.

Each flower carries both male and female parts. Even so, pyramid magnolia is among the magnolias that cannot set seed from their own pollen, so a lone tree may bear none. Seedlings are hard to raise, and at several botanic gardens many grown from wild seed did poorly or died young.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Magnolia pyramidata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500770)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Magnolia pyramidata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAPY)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: pyramid magnolia](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=815)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Magnolia pyramidata](https://www.fnps.org/plant/magnolia-pyramidata)
- [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Field Guide, Pyramid Magnolia, January 2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/FieldGuides/Magnolia_pyramidata.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Magnolia pyramidata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129936/Magnolia_pyramidata)
- [Center for Plant Conservation: Pyramid Magnolia plant profile](https://saveplants.org/plant-profile/?CPCNum=6402)
- [American Public Gardens Association and US Forest Service Tree Gene Conservation Partnership: Report on 2019 Scouting and Collection Efforts targeting Magnolia fraseri var. pyramidata, Matthew Lobdell, The Morton Arboretum, 2019-11-14](https://members.publicgardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mag_pyramidata_report-Lobdell-.pdf)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Magnolia chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Magnolia.pdf)
- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Fraser Magnolia](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/fraser-magnolia)
- [Florida Administrative Code, Rule 5B-40.0055, Regulated Plant Index, via the Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/florida/Fla-Admin-Code-Ann-R-5B-40-0055)
- [Georgia Department of Natural Resources: Georgia Protected Species List, Proposed Updates](https://georgiawildlife.com/ProtectedSpeciesList)
- [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: 2022 Kentucky Rare Plant List](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Magnolia fraseri var. pyramidata](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/magnolia/magnolia-fraseri/)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)
- [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Pyramid Magnolia, add ?species=pyramid-magnolia with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=pyramid-magnolia&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Pyramid Magnolia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=pyramid-magnolia): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=pyramid-magnolia
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Pyramid Magnolia is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=pyramid-magnolia
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Pyramid Magnolia needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=pyramid-magnolia:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Pyramid Magnolia flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.