Should magnolia leaves be composted?

Due to the recent snowstorms in our area, we have massive amounts of magnolia leaves in our yard from my neighbor's tree. This is a large tree that has dropped alot of large limbs. In the past, we've never really had leaves from this tree. I'm wondering if they should be composted because the leaves seem waxy to me. This may be one of those items that doesn't break down well. I have a leaf shredder, but I wanted to check with someone else before proceeding.

I haven't specifically tried but they do seem like they would be hard to rot. But if you can shred them, I like the idea of them as a more loose material- my compost often seems to get too compact.

Sally, do you mean that the magnolia leaves might be helpful in the composter by creating air pockets since they are harder than regular leaves?

Yes I do. If you can keep the mix overall moist but let those magnolia leaves help with aeration I think you'll get good action. ( My pile always packs down. ) I think this after considering the huge piles of chipped trees that will steam all winter. They shouldn't be that high in nitrogen but I think the size of the pile helps retain heat and moisture while the nature of the chips keeps it aerated.
Magnolia leaves will become brittle when dry so that may be an option for crunching them.

I was at my master gardener class today, and asked this question of our speaker, who grows perennials and annuals for a living. He said that because magnolia leaves are so thick it would take a very long time for them to be composted. He thought that if they were ground up and left on their own they would compost, but it would take them a long time. If I mixed them in with my compost, I would have to pick out the magnolia leaves when the rest of the compost was ready to use.

Thanks for the scoop on magnolia leaves in compost!