Magnoliaceae

Lab dissection
(I hadn't found a magnolia on the day of the dissection but I was able to find a tree later...)

Notes

• The family of plants is considered to be among the most primitive of the flowering plants and characteristics.

• It consists of woody shrubs and trees that may have decideous or evergreen leaves.

• The flower parts (sepals, petals, stamens, pistils) are spirally arranged and usually without a definite number.

• There are 12 genera and over 200 species.

• Flowers are usually bisexual, having both male and female structures. Sepals and petals look alike or there may be 3 sepals and 6 to many petals.

• Many stamens are spirally arranged around a raised axis with many pistils.

• Each pistil has an ovary of one carpel containing one to many ovules in parietal placentation and one style and stigma.

• Fruit types in this family include follicles (as in Magnolia), samaras (as in Liriodendron) and berries.

Sources

• Botanique, systématique moléculaire, Guignard and Dupont (2005)

• The Science behind Flowers, Dick Rauh (2020).

• Botany Illustrated. Introduction to Plants, Major Groups, Flowering Plant Families, by Janice Glimn-Lacy and Peter B. Kaufman (2006).

• English wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_stellata

• Susannah Graedel's plate.