Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata)

The Cucumber Magnolia, also known as Cucumber Tree Magnolia, is found as scattered specimens within Appalachian forests from western Pennsylvania to New York. There are also a few small populations southeastern United States and in Canada.

Early settlers used an extract from the green fruit with whisky as a fever medicine. The wood, known as “poorman’s walnut,” was widely used for furniture and interior paneling

In May to early June slightly fragrant greenish-yellow flowers bloom high in the tree. Unlike most magnolias, the flowers are not showy and tend to blend in with the leaves. These are followed by pinkish red fruit resembling a cucumber, from which the tree derives its common name. The seeds are eaten by several species of birds and small mammals.

In the early 1800s these trees were widely exported to Europe, where they were planted in estate gardens and landscapes. An excellent shade tree for large expanses that grows rapidly, but they are rarely planted today due to the rather drab flowers and lack of fall leaf color.

It is probable that Frederick Law Olmsted, the Father of American landscape architecture, obtained the huge Cucumber Magnolia near the corner of Victoria Street and Bellevue Avenue, from Arnold Arboretum in Boston; which is known to have been a source for many of the Newport estate trees he planted in that period. At 66-feet in height the Arboretum’s tree is the largest in Rhode Island. However, in its native Appalachia region it can grow to nearly 100 feet in height. In 2015 the Arboretum’s Cucumber Magnolia was named a Helen Walker Raleigh State Champion Tree.