RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Evaluations of Magnolia grandiflora Selections in South-Central Alabama, U.S. JF Arboriculture & Urban Forestry JO JOA FD International Society of Arboriculture SP 224 OP 228 DO 10.48044/jauf.2002.033 VO 28 IS 5 A1 Williams, J.D. A1 Sibley, J.L. A1 Gilliam, C.H. A1 Creech, G. YR 2002 UL http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/28/5/224.abstract AB In December 1983, 12 southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora L.) selections were added to a comprehensive tree evaluation project at the Piedmont Substation in Camp Hill, Alabama, U.S., in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b. Growth rates were determined annually. Cultivars ‘Margaret Davis’ and ‘Smith Fogle’ along with seedling selections from a native population near Mobile, Alabama, demonstrated the greatest overall annual growth after the first 18 years of the study. Foliar characteristics were evaluated in September 2000. The seedling selections and ‘Majestic Beauty’ had the greatest mean leaf area, with ‘Little Gem’ the smallest. Cultivars ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’, ‘Hasse’, and ‘Little Gem’ had the most tomentose (considered “brown” in industry) abaxial leaf surface, which is considered a highly desirable trait. In ‘Majestic Beauty’, seedlings, Aldridge, and ‘Smith Fogle’, the abaxial leaf surfaces were the most glabrous (considered “green”), generally regarded as a less desirable trait.