526 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



opening, protected by 2 ample, deciduous stipules, convolute and 

 terminating the branches with a conical point, and when fallen, 

 leaving a lasting annular mark. The flowers are of extraordi- 

 nary size and splendor, and generally exhale a delicious fra- 

 grance, which often acts powerfully upon the nerves. Almost 

 every part of the plant, especially the bark and the fruit, is 

 highly aromatic and tonic, the bark containing a bitter principle, 

 which has often been used as a substitute for Peruvian bark, on 

 account of its stimulant, stomachic, febrifugal properties. 



The flowers are distinguished by having a calyx of 3 or 6 

 sepals, which fall as they expand; a corolla of from 3 to 30 

 petals usually disposed in threes ; very numerous stamens Avith 

 long, close anthers ; and 1, a few, or, most commonly, very many 

 ovaries arranged on a central cone. The fruit consists of nu- 

 merous 1- or 2-seeded vessels, aggregated or grown together like 

 the strobile of a pine ; embryo minute, at the base of fleshy 

 albumen. 



Of this family, there are two genera found growing in Massa- 

 chusetts ; the 



Magnolia, distinguished by its seed-vessels opening to allow 

 the escape of the seed ; and 



The Tulip Tree, Lirioddndron, with seed-vessels not opening ; 

 and with leaves truncate at the end. 



XL. 1. THE MAGNOLIA. MAGNOLIA. L. 



This genus, named for Magnol, a distinguished botanist of 

 Montpelier, in France, contains trees, except M. glanca, — which 

 in the Northern States is only a shrub, — all of them beautiful and 

 some of them among the finest and most splendid trees that are 

 known. It is distinguished by having a calyx of 3 caducous 

 sepals, resembling petals, and a corolla of 3 to 12 deciduous 

 petals. The carpels are 1- or 2-seeded, opening by the external 

 angle, and permanent, and forming a fruit like the cone of a 

 pine. The seeds are like a berry, somewhat heart-shaped, and 

 hanging suspended, when ripe and escaped from the carpel, by 

 a long, slender thread. 



There is only one species known as naturally growing in 



