Having survived for so many eons, the species is notable for its healthy parts, which have been used for a variety of ailments since ancient times, and proved helpful for the south during the War Between the States.
The Federal blockade of Southern ports that began in 1861 cut off military supplies as well as medicines that the people of South Carolina desperately needed. With soldiers and civilians suffering and dying, some remedy for wounds, fevers, and ills was crucial, and ended up coming from a natural source. Charleston doctor Francis Peyre Porcher was, like many in his day, a naturalist as well as a man of medicine. He used his considerable knowledge of botany to publish a 600-page book of natural remedies in 1863 called Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests.
Countless lives were saved by the thousands of natural remedies spelled out in Porcher’s book, including concoctions made from the Magnolia flowers, cones, seeds, bark, leaves and roots. The Magnolia parts were ground into powders, mixed with brandy, or sun-dried and pickled to help overcome respiratory and nerve issues, joint pain and swelling, nausea and eye inflammation, as well as infections and fevers.
With such a wealth of herbal remedies available today, the Magnolia is no longer in much demand as a healing source, but as a thing of beauty and a living organism that has persevered, the Grandiflora is an enduring Southern symbol