Cucumber Tree
Growth Habit
TreeBiocultural Value
The Cherokee used cucumber magnolia wood for lumber, furniture material, and pulpwood. Medicinally, the bark was used as a toothache remedy (Cherokee and Haudenosaunee), internal analgesic (Cherokee), and anthelmintic (Cherokee).
Wildlife Value
Cucumber tree's nectarless flowers are primarily beetle-pollinated. Leaf beetles and scale insects feed on the foliage and sap. Forest birds eat the bright red seeds and deer sometimes feed on the twigs, leaves, and buds.
Location
Fall Creek Gorge, Polson Preserve, Ringwood Ponds, Mundy Wildflower GardenCultivation
Description
Tree reaching 50' to 80' in height with a comparable spread at maturity; in youth a distinctly pyramidaltree, the spread always being considerably less than the height. Habit pyramidal when young (20 to 30 years of age), in old age developing a rounded to broad-rounded outline with massive wide-spreadingbranches. Fall color green or brown; some trees develop a soft, ashy-brown fall color which is actuallyquite attractive. Flowers perfect, often self-sterile, although some trees are self-fertile, greenish-yellow,2 1/2" to 3" long, solitary, borne in late May and early June, masked by foliage; seedling grown trees maynot flower until they have reached 20' or more in height. Fruit an aggregate of follicles, pinkish-red,2" to 3" long, briefly effective in October.
Source of plant
Schichtel's Nursery, Claude Heit, Moses Nurseries, Ruth Nix
