Amazon.com description: Product Description: Although they may appear contemporary, these plants have an ancient lineage. Among the first true flowering plants, magnolia fossils over 100 million years old have been found; they came to dominate the pre-ice age landscape across the world from 65 to 1 million years ago. After the glaciers finally receded, the once great forests of magnolias were gone, except for the few temperate areas of the world, like parts of China and North America, that escaped glacial ravaging. This is the first comprehensive work on Magnolias since J.G. Millais' "Magnolias" (1927).