Magnolia

Here is a pink Magnolia from campus. One thing I didn't realize is that it is possible to isolate DNA from Magnolia fossils going back to the Miocene (17-20 million years ago)  and use it to help understand the phylogeny of these trees.  See Kim et al (2003)  http://www.amjbot.org/content/91/4/615.full doi: 10.3732/ajb.91.4.615 Am. J. Bot. April 2004 vol. 91 no. 4 615-620