''Magnolia schiedeana'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where it occurs along the slopes of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

Description

''Magnolia schiedeana'' is a tree growing up to 25 meters tall. It flowers from April to June.Rico Y, León-Tapia MÁ, Zurita-Solís M, Rodríguez-Gómez F, Vásquez-Morales SG. Influence of Pleistocene climatic oscillations on the phylogeography and demographic history of endemic vulnerable trees (section Magnolia) of the Tropical Montane Cloud Forest in Mexico. PeerJ. 2021 Sep 28;9:e12181. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12181. PMID: 34692249; PMCID: PMC8485838.

Range and habitat

''Magnolia schiedeana'' is native to the southern

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 ...

in eastern Mexico, in the states of

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, and

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. It is knowns from about 14 scattered populations including

Acatlán, Veracruz Acatlán is a municipality and village located in the central zone of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, about 35 km from state capital Xalapa. The municipality has an area of 20.56 km². Geographic Limits The municipality of Acatlán is delim ...

and the La Cortadura cloud forest of

Coatepec, Veracruz The municipality of Coatepec () is found in the central region of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Its north latitude is 19° 27′, west longitude is 96° 58′, altitude of , and surface of . It represents the 0.338% of the current state. The ...

. The species' estimated potential forest distribution is 17,411 km². It is native to

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s between 1,200 to 2,100 meters elevation, and is associated with

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 ...

s. In the cloud forest of Eloxochitlán, Hidalgo, ''M. schiedeana'' ranges from 1,400 to 2,210 meters elevation, and below 1700 meters it is an important canopy tree, growing 20 meters high in association with oaks. The species' distribution is

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

, with the populations separated by the distribution of suitable cloud forest habitats in Mexico's mountains. Several populations once classed as ''Magnolia schiedeana'' are now considered separate species, including '' Magnolia pedrazae'' in San Luis Potosí and Querétaro, '' Magnolia oaxacensis'' in Oaxaca, '' Magnolia guerrerensis'' and ''

Magnolia vazquezii ''Magnolia vazquezii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is endemic to the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero state in southern Mexico. Description ''Magnolia vazquezii'' is a tree that grows between 14 and 18 meters t ...

'' in Guerrero, and ''

Magnolia zamudioi ''Magnolia zamudioi'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is endemic to Mexico, where it is found in the mountains of southern Veracruz and Chiapas. Description ''Magnolia zamudioi'' is a tree that grows from 15 to 30 ...

'' in Oaxaca and southern Veracruz.

Ecology and reproduction

Flowers are pollinated by the endemic beetle '' Cyclocephala jalapensis''. The plants can reproduce sexually, producing seeds which are dispersed by small mammals. It often reproduces by vegetative means, sprouting from the base. ''Magnolia schiedeana'' is a larval food plant for the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species '' Papilio garamas abderus'' (Papilionidae), '' Paradirphia hoegei'' (Saturniidae: Hemileucinae), and '' Jonaspyge jonas'' (Hesperiidae).Lara-Pérez, Luis Alberto; Suárez-Ramírez, Claudia; Oros-Ortega, Antonio; Andrade-Torres, Antonio; Córdova-Lara, Iván; and Sáenz-Carbonell, Luis; 2019. “Magnolia Schiedeana1 as a New Host Plant Record of Four Lepidoptera Species in a Tropical Montane Cloud Forest.” ''Southwestern Entomologist'' 44 (2): 497–501. doi:10.3958/059.044.0215.

Conservation

The species' cloud forest habitat is threatened and degraded by timber harvesting and clearance for agriculture. Its conservation status is assessed as vulnerable.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3927268 schiedeana Endemic flora of Mexico Trees of Mexico Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Cloud forest flora of Mexico Taxonomy articles created by Polbot