| Primitive Beauty |
| Location: Front of Conard
Learning Center [Not yet installed] |
| This flowering tree, a
Magnolia, is interesting because it represents a very early type of
flower. The flowering plants first appeared on Planet Earth
approximately 160 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic.
Biologists are still trying to determine which flowering plant was the
first to evolve. Magnolias, with fossils dating back 95 million years,
can't qualify as the first flowers but they do exhibit very primitive
characteristics. This tree is Magnolia liliflora x sprengeri. It is a hybrid (as indicated by the x in its name) created by a 1963 cross between two species, M. liliflora and M. sprengeri. Tree nurseries call this tree Magnolia 'Galaxy.' Many of the most attractive Magnolias are native to more southern climates and do not always perform well here in the cold north. This particular hybrid is ideal for our climate because it blooms about two weeks later than many other Magnolias and thus is more likely to avoid freezing Spring temperatures that would damage the flower buds and any opened flowers. The 11-12 petal-like parts of these flowers are red-purple. In most flowers these parts are of two types: sepals in the lower whorl and petals in the next higher whorl. However, these parts in Magnolia are arranged in a spiral instead of whorls so it is impossible to distinguish between sepals and petals. Botanists call these parts tepals. As with other primitive flowers, there is an indefinite number of all the flower parts. Evolving before the bees, Magnolia flowers are pollinated by beetles. As beautiful as the flowers of this tree are, they are mostly sterile, i.e., they produce few seeds. This is typical of many hybrids. In the absence of seeds, it is necessary to reproduce Magnolia 'Galaxy' by rooting pieces of the branches. This tree was planted here to honor the outstanding career of Dr. Janet Tarino, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. Dr. Tarino won OSU's Outstanding Teacher award on several occasions and also was a recipient of the OSU Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Tarino retired in 2001 and now lives in Minnesota. Dr. Tarino not only was an excellent teacher but she played a major role on several campus committees and reached beyond our campus to develop and deliver Science is Fun workshops for teachers in this area and in the Columbus schools. -- David Kramer
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