Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ is very free-flowering and produces a mass of cream-yellow, star-shaped flowers that resemble butterflies perched atop the branches in spring. The flowers emerge before the leaves and typically have 10 to 14 tepals and red stamens. Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ forms a rounded shape and starts to flower at an early age. Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ is deciduous, not native to New Zealand, and a hybrid between Magnolia acuminata ‘Fertile Myrtle’ and Magnolia denudata ‘Sawada’s Cream’. Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ was raised by Phil Savage before 1989 in Michigan, United States.