Fraser magnolia (named for Scottish botanist John Fraser) is a small, deciduous tree growing to 14 m (40 ft) tall, as a basal-branching, fragrant plant, with brown bark with a "warty" or "scaly" texture.

The showy white flowers are 16–25 cm in diameter with nine tepals; they open in late spring or early summer, after the foliage.

The fruit is a woody, oblong, cone-like structure (like all magnolias) 6.5–12 cm long, covered in small, pod-like follicles each containing one or two red seeds that hang out from the cone by a slender thread when ripe.

In the Appalachian Mountains, the Fraser Magnolia is a popular nest tree for the northern flying squirrel.

The very large showy white flowers and large-leaved, coarse-textured foliage make it an attractive ornamental tree, but otherwise it has little commercial value.