''Magnolia rzedowskiana'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is native to the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

, and Hidalgo states in eastern Mexico.

Description

''Magnolia rzedowskiana'' is a tree that can grow up to 20 meters tall. It has large showy flowers, which appear in April and May. The trees fruit in August and September.

Distribution and habitat

''Magnolia rzedowskiana'' is known from three locations in the Sierra Madre Oriental – near La Joya del Hielo in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro, in the Sierra de Xilitla of San Luis Potosí, and near Chapulhuacán in Hidalgo. The species has an estimated

extent of occurrence Extent may refer to: Computing * Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file * Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region * Extent, a chunk of st ...

(EOO) of 145 km². It is found on calcareous soils in montane cloud forests between 800 and 1,950 meters elevation, including

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

–'' Liquidambar styraciflua'' forests in Chapulhuacán, and pine–cypress forests in La Joya del Hielo. It is cultivated in parts of Hidalgo and Veracruz.

Classification

The species is named for the botanist Jerzy Rzedowski. It was until recently classed as ''

Magnolia dealbata ''Magnolia dealbata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae, native to Mexico. It is known commonly as the cloudforest magnolia and ''eloxochitl''. It is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of '' Magnolia macrophylla,'' w ...

''.

Conservation

The species' conservation status is assessed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

. It has a small population and a limited range. It is threatened with habitat loss from deforestation, and people cutting down entire trees to harvest its flowers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25700897 rzedowskiana Endemic flora of Mexico Trees of Northern America Endangered biota of Mexico Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Cloud forest flora of Mexico Plants described in 2015