A new magnolia species has been discovered in the Bidoup – Nui Ba national park in Lam Dong province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Dr. Vu Quang Nam, a researcher from the Forestry University, found this magnolia species on Hon Giao Mount in the Bidoup – Nui Ba national park. The species, therefore, is named Magnolia bidoupensis Q.N. Vu.

Magnolia bidoupensis is morphologically close to M. odoratissima and M. albosericea, from which it differs chiefly by having a thickly leathery, broadly elliptic or ovate leaf blade with a broadly rounded base and an obtuse apex, smaller flowers, clavate stamens with an obtuse apex, and irregularly 3-winged ovules.

Magnolia bidoupensis grow in tropical evergreen forest, at the height of 1,650 to 1,910m over the sea.

The discovery was published on the Annales Botanici Fennici in Finland in December 2011.