Magnolia glauca^ 



THE GLAUCOUS-LEAVED MAGNOLIA. 



Synonymes. 



Magnolia glauca, 



Magnolier glauque, Arbre de castor, 



Grauer Bieberbaum, 



Albero di castoro, 



White Bay, Sweet Bay, 



Magnolia, Small Magnolia, Swamp 



Magnolia, Swamp Laurel, Swamp 



Sassafras, Beaver-wood, 



' LiNNiEus, Species Plantarum. 

 WiLLDENOw, Berlinische Baumzuchl. 

 De Candolle, Prodromus. 

 MicHAux, North American Sylva. 

 \ PuRSH; Flora Americae Septentrionalis. 

 Don, JMiller's Dictionary. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 

 BiGELOw, Medical Botany. 

 France. 

 Germany. 

 Italy. 



Southern States. 

 Other parts 

 OF the 

 United States. 



Derivations. The specific name glauca is derived from the Greek word glaucos, sea-green, alluding to the colour of the 

 leaves. Il is named Swamp Sassafras on account of its growing in boggy grounds, and resembling some of tiie qualities of the 

 Laurus sassafras ; and Beacer-Zree, because the root is eaten as a great dainty by beavers, which are sometimes caught by 

 means of it. Michaux tells us that it is felled by them for constructing tlieir dams and houses, in preference to any other tree, 

 on account of the softness of the wood. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 52 ; Audubon, Birds of America, pi. cxviii. ; Loudon, Aboretum Britan- 

 nicum, v., pi. 3 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Almost deciduous. Leaves elliptical, obtuse, under surface glaucous. 

 9 12-petaled, contracted. Petals ovate, concave. Don, Miller's Diet. 



Flowers 



Descri2)tion. 



HE Magnolia glauca, though 

 b inferior in size to the preced- 

 ing species, and less regularly 

 '^ formed, is interesting on ac- 

 count of its beautiful foliage and sweet-scented flow- 

 ers. It sometimes attains an elevation of forty feet, 

 with a diameter of ten or twelve inches ; but it does 

 not ordinarily exceed fifteen or twenty feet in height, 

 either in Britain or this country, and often fruc- 

 tifies at the height of five or six feet. The trunk is 

 usually crooked, and divided into a great number of 

 divaricating branches. The young shoots are from 

 twelve to eighteen inches in length, and the roots, like 

 all the species of the magnolia, are branched, and 

 sparingly supplied with fibres. The bark of the trunk 

 is grayish, and of a bitterish taste. The leaves are 

 five or six inches long, petiolated, alternate, oblong- 

 oval, or obtuse, and entire. They are of a shining 

 bluish-green on their upper surface, and whitish or 

 glaucous, and often silky when young, underneath. In the southern 

 tree is often found with evergreen leaves, and sometimes near its nor 

 limits it retains a part of its foliage durng winter. The leaves usually 



states this 

 thernmost 

 fall, how- 



