Species
+

Magnolia liliiflora Desr.

Flowering Magnolia, Lily Magnolia, Purple magnolia, Woody-orchid, Red magnolia, Jane magnolia, Japanese magnolia, Tulip magnolia, Mulan magnolia, Lily magnolia, jamogryeon

Climate known 4 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Magnolia liliiflora is a shrub or small tree native to southern China, but cultivated for centuries elsewhere in China and also Japan. Variously known by many names, including Mulan magnolia, purple magnolia, red magnolia, lily magnolia, tulip magnolia and woody-orchid, it was first introduced to English-speaking countries from cultivated Japanese origins, and is thus also sometimes called Japanese magnolia, though it is not native to Japan. It is now also planted as an ornamental in North America and Europe, though rather less often than its popular hybrid.

Text from Wikipedia, “Magnolia liliiflora”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 to 340 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. The natural range of Magnolia species is disjunct, with a main center in east, south and southeast Asia and a secondary center in South America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species in eastern North America.

Text from Wikipedia, “Magnolia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Magnoliaceae
Described by
Desr.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast
Wild records
136 in range· 57 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1496mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 235 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–34DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1496 mm a year, wettest June at 235 mm, driest December at 36 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Lassonia quinquepeta Buc'hoz; Magnolia atropurpurea Steud.; Magnolia denudata var. purpurea (Curtis) C.K.Schneid.; Magnolia discolor Vent.; Magnolia gracilis Salisb. and 23 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1066 mm of 1496 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.0 °C against a yearly mean of 17.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1496 mm a year, wettest June at 235 mm, driest December at 36 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1496 mm a year at the habitat, 1066 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 235 mm, driest December at 36 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1037 mm to 2100 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 36).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.8 °C, the absolute minimum -15.8 °C, about 27 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.6 °C to 5.5 °C), warmest day 30.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 2 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1496 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 121 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -15.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-15.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 16–34RH 59–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 121 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 7–1511 / 9–1615 / 13–1921 / 18–2325 / 22–2728 / 24–2931 / 26–3331 / 26–3227 / 23–2922 / 18–2517 / 14–2011 / 9–16
Night °C2 / -2–64 / 0–87 / 4–1113 / 9–1517 / 14–2021 / 17–2324 / 19–2624 / 18–2520 / 16–2215 / 11–179 / 6–124 / 0–7
Rain mm55 / 16–9377 / 19–127122 / 34–208153 / 62–251187 / 95–308235 / 145–402196 / 149–347172 / 136–292123 / 83–18378 / 54–11162 / 32–9036 / 13–54
DLI16 / 13–2118 / 13–2421 / 17–3026 / 22–3329 / 26–3430 / 27–3234 / 29–3632 / 29–3327 / 22–2923 / 15–2518 / 13–2217 / 12–20
RH %61 / 58–6562 / 58–6662 / 58–6762 / 58–6662 / 59–6664 / 61–6863 / 61–6863 / 61–6862 / 60–6660 / 58–6560 / 58–6459 / 57–64

Each figure is the median across the 121 grid cells holding the 133 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1232:5895 (28.375, 114.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -15.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 121 distinct grid cells holding the 133 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1232:5895 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_115.000, lapse-corrected -155 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 83 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker26.325, 114.514 · in the densest population, 82 records (60% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 136 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 57 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 565 km away. 173 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 136 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Magnolia liliifloraMagnolia liliifloraMagnolia liliiflora

Photographs: (c) Paulmathi Vinod, some rights reserved (CC BY); Lauren N, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Paulmathi Vinod, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Magnolia liliiflora, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Hydrothermal conversion of Magnolia liliiflora into nitrogen-doped carbon dots as an effective turn-off fluorescence sensing, multi-colour cell imaging and fluorescent ink
Raji Atchudan, Thomas Nesakumar Jebakumar Immanuel Edison, Kanikkai Raja Aseer, Suguna Perumal (2018) · Colloids and Surfaces B Biointerfaces
Biosynthesis of Homoterpenes in Higher Plants
W. Boland, Andreas Gäbler (1989) · Helvetica Chimica Acta
Analysis of Metabolites in White Flowers of Magnolia Denudata Desr. and Violet Flowers of Magnolia Liliiflora Desr.
Chang Ha Park, Soo-Yun Park, Sook Young Lee, Jae Kwang Kim (2018) · Molecules
Physiological Response of In Vitro Cultured MAGNOLIA SP. to Nutrient Medium Composition
Rossen S. Sokolov, B. Atanassova, Elena T. Iakimova (2014) · Journal of Horticultural Research
Metabolic analysis of the regulatory mechanism of sugars on secondary flowering in Magnolia
Lingjuan Xuan, Qianqian Wang, Zhigao Liu, Bin Xu (2022) · BMC Molecular and Cell Biology
Effect of Antibiotics on the Symptoms of Stunting Disease of Magnolia liliiflora Plants
M. Kamińska, H. Śliwa (2003) · Journal of Phytopathology
Fructus Xanthii and Magnolia liliiflora Volatile Oils Liposomes-Loaded Thermosensitive in situ Gel for Allergic Rhinitis Management
Zhongxu Jing, Wenqing Li, Wei Liao, Ying Lv (2024) · International Journal of Nanomedicine
A new species of Magnolia sect. Tulipastrum (Magnoliaceae) from Fujian, China
Rongjing Zhang, Ren‐Zhang Zhou, Fu‐Wu Xing, Hongfeng Chen (2006) · Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
Comparative Performance of Chemical and Biological-based Products in Management of Algal Leaf Spot on Magnolia
Fulya Baysal-Gurel, Ravi Bika, Christina Jennings, Cristi L. Palmer (2020) · HortTechnology
Investigation of Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity of Five Red Flower Extracts
Diana Ionela Popescu, Oana Romina Botoran, Ramona Maria Cristea (2025) · Antioxidants

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Magnolia 12 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 79 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.