- Scientific Name: Magnolia ernestii Figlar
- Ref: Proc. Int. Symp. Magnoliac. 1:21. 2000
- Synonym: Michelia wilsonii Finet & Gagnep.; M. sinensis Hemsl. & E.H.Wilson
- English Common Name: yellow lily-tree
- Chinese Common Name: 峨眉含笑 Éméi hánxiào
- Family: Magnoliaceae
- Genus: Magnolia
- Distribution: Forests; 600-2000 m. Chongqing, Guizhou, SW and W Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, C, S, and W Sichuan, NE and SE Yunnan.
- Photo: 03/27/2017, Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang
- Note: There are two species in one genus both named after the same botanist – Ernest Henry Wilson: Magnolia wilsonii (Finet & Gagnep.) Rehder 1913 and Magnolia ernestii Figlar 2000 (formerly Michelia wilsonii Finet & Gagnep. 1906).
Trees, to 25 m tall. Old twigs densely noded and lenticellate; young twigs green, pale brown or reddish brown sparsely appressed pubescent; terminal buds cylindric. Stipular scar 2-4 mm or absent. Petiole 1.5-4 cm; leaf blade obovate to narrowly obovate, 9-15 × 3-7 cm, leathery, abaxially glaucous and sparsely white glossy appressed pubescent or with scattered reddish brown erect trichomes, adaxially glabrous and glossy, secondary veins 8-13 on each side of midvein and slender, reticulate veins slender, dense, and prominent on both surfaces when dry, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex acute, shortly acuminate, or caudate. Brachyblasts with 2-4 bract scars. Flowers 5-6 cm in diam., fragrant. Tepals 9-12, yellow, obovate, narrowly obovate, or oblanceolate, 2-5 × 1-2.5 cm, slightly fleshy; tepals of inner whorl smaller. Stamens 1-2 cm; filaments green, ca. 2 mm; connective exserted and forming a ca. 1 mm mucro; anthers 0.8-1.2 cm, dehiscing introrsely. Gynoecium cylindric, 3.5-4 cm; carpels 3-6 mm; ovaries ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoid, with dense silvery or yellow appressed fine trichomes; ovules ca. 14 per carpel; styles nearly as long to as long as ovaries. Fruit 6-15 cm; fruiting torus wrinkled; mature carpels purplish brown, ellipsoid to obovoid, 1-2.5 cm, with grayish yellow lenticels, 2-valved, apex with a curved short beak. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Aug-Sep. (Flora of China)
