Magnolia Grandiflora

The Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) is a popular ornamental tree with a beautiful, large, white flower. It is also the State tree of Mississippi.

The flower opens up in a tulip like shape with petals that fold back to expose the developing seedpod. I kept going pack to the same trees to catch all the stages of flower development which ended up taking me several weeks as the flowers opened up a lot slower than I had expected.

The dark green leaves are about 6 inches long. They are simple in shape but are usually somewhat warped as if someone had twisted and

Last summer while visiting the Alcazar Real of Sevilla I found a large, old Magnolia Grandiflora (below) in one of the royal gardens.
Check out these trees as well...
Monkey puzzle tree
Aleppo pine
Field Elm