Magnolia obovata

The Japanese bigleaf magnolia or Japanese whitebark magnolia tree is in the magnolia or Magnoliaceae family and is native to forests of Japan and the Kurile Islands (Russia). It is a medium-sized tree, growing to a height of 12 m tall, with a spread of up to 7 m.

• Leaves are large, 16–38 cm long and 9–20 cm broad, leathery, green above, silvery or greyish pubescent below, and with an acute point, in pseudo-whorls of 5–8 at the end of each shoot.
• Flowers are also large, cup-shaped, 15–20 cm in diameter, with 9–12 creamy, fleshy tepals, red stamens; they have a strong scent, and are produced in May-June after the leaves are out.
• Fruit is an oblong-cylindric aggregate of follicles 12–20 cm long and 6 cm broad, bright pinkish red, each follicle containing one or two black seeds with a fleshy orange-red coating.
• Bark is slate gray.