Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ produces large, goblet-shaped flowers that are red-purple in color with pink-white interiors. Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ begins to flower from an early age, and the flowering takes place in mid-spring. Magnolia x soulangeana is deciduous, not native to New Zealand, and a hybrid between Magnolia denudata and Magnolia liliiflora. Learn more about Magnolia x soulangeana. Magnolia x soulangeana probably occurred spontaneously in Japanese gardens or nurseries a long time ago. However, it was first recognised from deliberate crosses made by Étienne Soulange-Bodin (1774 – 1846). Étienne was a retired cavalry officer in Napoleon’s army who became a plantsman and gardener. He first made the Magnolia x soulangeana cross in 1820 at his home in Fromont, France. Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ was raised before 1893 in Boskoop, Netherlands.