Tree Information
Common Name: cucumbertree
Scientific Name: Magnolia acuminata
Native/Naturalized: Native to Virginia
Database ID: 71
Status: alive
National Champion: no
Virginia Champion: no
Trunk Girth: 283 in.
Tree Height: 59 ft.
Crown Spread: 96 ft.
Points: 366
Date Last Measured: 2026
Last Measured by: Bella Hardaway
Date First Measured: 1986
Comments:
2026 Comments: Tree continues to thrive under the care of arborists. Bartlett Tree Experts performs lightning protection maintenance and pruning in winter every couple of years. Extensive propping system for large branches. Crown is very asymmetrical with its maximum spread in the north-south direction and a few elongated branches extending outside the general profile of the crown. This makes it difficult to measure an average crown spread. The maximum spread measured in field (north-south) was 116'. This corroborates with a measurement of 115' in a Google Earth image captured in May 2021. The perpendicular crown spread is more difficult because the crown perimeter undulates in and out. The perpendicular field measurement was 96'. However, no perpendicular measurement on Google Earth exceeds 76'. The direction of field measurement might have gotten skewed and measured more at an angle along the oval shape. Therefore the average crown spread is corrected based on Google Earth to 96' (116' x 76').
2021 Comments: Brian Kelley with Gathering Growth Foundation published a nice photo essay on this tree in June 2021: https://www.gatheringgrowth.org/trees-of-significance/violet-bank-cucumber-magnolia
2015 Comments: Measured by Jon Matiuk, Eric Wiseman, and Joel Koci. Trunk: 276", Height: 57', Crown: 98', Total Points: 358.
2006 Comments: Measured by Richard Reuse (VDOF forester). Trunk: 269", Height: 59', Crown: 91', Total Points: 351.
1986 Comments: Measured by Julian A. Young (museum curator) with help from the Colonial Heights Engineering Department. Trunk: 249", Height, 50', Crown: 110', Total Points: 327.
1970 Comments: Originally nominated and measured by Betty Reid of the Virginia Travel Council. Trunk: 226", Height: 57', Crown: 85', Total Points: 304. Newspaper article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in October 1975 shows a photo of the tree and discusses the history and legends of the site and the tree. Tree is believed to have been given to the estate owner Thomas Shore by Thomas Jefferson as a cutting that was planted in 1718. The estate was General Robert E. Lee's headquarters during the siege of Petersburg during the Civil War. General Lee could hear the explosion of the "crater" from this location.
More Photos
Location of Tree
Tree is located in: City of Colonial Heights
Land Owner: City of Colonial Heights
GPS Coordinates: 37.24164, -77.40522
Directions: Located on the grounds of Violet Bank Museum, an historic plantation house constructed in 1815 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. http://www.colonialheightsva.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Violet-Bank-Museum-44
Owner Address: 303 Virginia Avenue
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
Contact Information
Contact Name: Eric Wiseman
Contact Email: vabigtree@vt.edu
Contact Phone: 540-231-5148
Nominators
Original Nominator(s): Betty Reid
Additional Information
Our Partners
