Magnolia Fruit

As I was walking through the backyard last Sunday, the remains of a magnolia bloom caught my eye.  It didn't come out as brightly in this photo as it did in real life, but the purple band along the stem was vibrantly striking.

In a few weeks, the pod will brown and shrivel, and the result will look like some sort of Shadow Technology from Babylon 5.

And to think that this was a fragrant white flower a few days ago.

On a related note, I can never remember what this tree is called, and often call it a "mangolia tree."