Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Magnolia acuminata (L.) L. in USDA PLANTS, magnolia family
Other names	Cucumber magnolia, yellow cucumbertree, yellowflower magnolia and mountain magnolia (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and the lower 48 states
Size and age, Silvics	Can reach about 30 m (100 ft) and a diameter of 91 to 122 cm (36 to 48 in); typically 18 to 24 m (60 to 80 ft) tall and 60 cm (24 in) in diameter; matures in about 100 years and seldom lives more than 150 years
Roots, Silvics	Deep and widespread, rarely developing a taproot, and the tree is described as susceptible to windthrow, especially on steep slopes
Branches, Silvics	The handbook says the branches are soft and break easily, making tree climbing difficult
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	49 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) calls cucumbertree the most widespread and hardiest of the eight native magnolia species in the United States and the only magnolia native to Canada. It says the tree is widely distributed but never abundant, on cool moist sites mostly in the mountains from western New York and southern Ontario southwest to Ohio, southern Indiana and Illinois and southern Missouri, south to southeastern Oklahoma and Louisiana, east to northwest Florida and central Georgia, and north in the mountains to Pennsylvania. The handbook says the trees reach their greatest size in moist soils of slopes and valleys in the mixed hardwood forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains. It adds that the species prefers rich, well-drained, moist, deep soils and has been planted successfully well north of its native range.

Flowers and fruit

Silvics says cucumbertree flowers from early April through early July depending on location. The flowers are perfect and borne singly at the ends of branches after the leaves start developing, close at night and last no longer than 2 to 4 days. The fruit is a green, cucumber-shaped cone that ripens in late August or September, when red knobby follicles open to show reddish-orange seeds hanging on slender threads. The handbook gives 10 to 60 seeds per fruit, good crops every 4 to 5 years, and seed bearing beginning at about 30 years.

Growth and uses

The handbook calls the species rapid growing and short lived, intermediate in shade tolerance, and typically straight-boled from a young age, self-pruning well in closed stands. It describes the tree as a valuable forest and shade tree, desirable for ornamental planting because of the showy flowers, fruits and foliage and bark. Wildlife use for food is described as low, though birds and small mammals eat the seeds and deer browse the twigs, leaves and buds.

Wood

Silvics says the wood resembles yellow-poplar but is heavier, harder and stronger, and that it is usually sold as yellow-poplar; it states the wood has not been sold as cucumbertree lumber since 1928. It lists furniture, fixtures, Venetian blinds, siding, interior trim, sashes, doors, boxes and crates. The handbook gives an oven-dry specific gravity of 0.44 on green volume and 0.48 at 12 percent moisture, describes the wood as close grained and durable but susceptible to decay, with a light sapwood and a pale brown heartwood, and says it is not as desirable for fuelwood as the denser hardwoods. The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) names cucumbertree with southern magnolia and sweetbay as commercial magnolia, and says its wood is similar to yellow-poplar; yellow-poplar is on the yellow-poplar page. Table 5-3b has a separate cucumbertree row, shown below.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.44	7,400	520
At 12% moisture content	0.48	12,300	700

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Diseases, insects and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says cucumbertree has no important disease agents but is very sensitive to ground fires and frost.

Nectria canker. Nectria galligena is called common on cucumbertree stands on unsuitable sites, particularly in the southern Appalachian region; the handbook says the cankers cause defects but seldom kill the tree.
Ambrosia beetles. Platypus compositus, a common wood borer, is said to seriously degrade felled trees during warm months; the handbook adds that in the South it is common to saw logs within 2 to 3 weeks after felling.
Scale insects. The magnolia scale is called one of the largest scale insects in the United States and able to seriously injure magnolias. The European fruit lecanium, the oleander pit scale and the San Jose scale are also listed.
Defoliators. Odontopus calceatus, Phyllocnistis magnoliella and Phyllophaga forsteri.
Sapsuckers. Sapsucker damage is called common, with bird pecks causing stain streaks in the wood several feet above and below each peck.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.