Magnolias are one of the oldest flowering plant lineages on Earth

Photo by Lee Wolfe

Spring has sprung in our front yard with this huge saucer magnolia in bloom. 

I recently learned that magnolias are considered one of the oldest flowering plant lineages on Earth, with fossils dating back over 95-100 million years to the Cretaceous period. 

They existed alongside dinosaurs and evolved before bees, developing strong, fragrant flowers designed for pollination by beetles. 

Our tree is a hybrid - a very distant relative of the original and is not fragrant, but beautiful to the eye.

--Lee Wolfe