Post Office Beauty

The Post Office in Sebastopol is not usually a mecca for beauty, but today it was.  This gigantic Magnolia tree was covered in green moss and the pink blooms were gently floating to the ground as I was taking photos.  One picture (this picture) does not do it justice.

Here's what I found on Wikipedia, as the Magnolia Society's site was a little, um, a little dry to say the least:

The natural range of Magnolia species is a disjunct distribution, with a main center in east and southeast Asia and a secondary center in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species in South America.

The genus is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by eating and crawling beetles. Fossilised specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae dating to 95 million years ago^{[citation needed].}


The Magnolia Tree.  Another testament to my love of February.