Magnolia blossom

Magnolia is an ancient plant which evolved over 95 million years ago, long before bees appeared. Its flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles and have extremely tough carpels to avoid damage from beetles. A magnolia tree has been first described in 1703 by Charles Plumier on the island of Martinique and was named Magnolia after the French botanist Pierre Magnol. The aromatic bark and the buds of Magnolia tree has long been used as medicine in China and Japan against as an anti-anxiety and cancer inhibiting agent. Magnolia bark has shown also anti-allergic and - astmatic properties and is a strong agent against caries.