Magnoliaceae
An order of trees or shrubs, natives of tropical and Eastern Asia, North America, rare in tropical and extra-tropical South America; none have yet been found in Africa, and very few in Australia and New Zealand. Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or rarely sub-fasciculate, often showy, hermaphrodite, or, in a few genera, unisexual. Fruit of numerous dry or succulent, dehiscent or indehiscent, carpels. Leaves alternate, undivided, reticulately penninerved, entire or dentate. Magnoliaceae possess bitter, tonic, and aromatic qualities. There are about nine genera and seventy species. Examples: Drimys, Illicium, Liriodendron, and Magnolia.