Magnolia You Sweet Thing
A favourite place for Valencian children (and some adults) to play is in the little park known as the Glorieta, just near the emblematic Calatrava Bridge. Both here and in the adjacent Partere park, with its prominent statue of King Jaime I (soon to be a film starring Tim Roth; perhaps because Jaime was so tall!) there are some extraordinary magnolia trees, among whose roots the children love to play and imagine themselves in some kind of Lord of the Rings fantasy.
Although the magnolias seem to have been transported to Valencia from a pre-historic epoch, they were in fact planted in 1855. Originally they come from South East Asia and the American continent, being brought to Europe from the end of the 18th century onwards, but have found a happy home in Valencia’s rich soil and flourished, perhaps because of the sound of happy children, to whom they provide a welcome canopy of shade during the summer, and a Hobbit-like home to fantasise.
The Alameda also provides a number of specimens of this spectacular tree.
The magnolia is named after French botanist Pierre Magnolia and evolved before bees appeared, the flowers originally being pollinated by beetles.
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