Magnolia umbrella^ 



THE UMBRELLA MAGNOLIA. 



Magnolia tripttala, 



Magnolia umbrella, 



iMaf^nolier parasol, Arbre parasol, 

 Dreyblatiriger Bieberbauin, Dreyblat- 



irige Magaohe, 

 Elk wood, 

 Umbrella-tree, Umbrella Magnolia, 



Si/jio7ii/mcs. 



' LiNNJEUs, Species Plantarum. 



WiLLDENow, Berlinisfhe Baumzucht. 

 ]MiciiAUX, North American Sylva. 



PuRsii, Flora Americae Septenlrionalis. 

 \ Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



IDe Candollb, Prodromus. 

 Don, Miller's Dictionary. 

 ToRREY AND Gray, Tlora of North America. 

 France. 



Germany. 



Virginia. 



Other parts of the United States. 



Derirations. This species is called Umbrella-tree on account of the leaves being disposed somewhat in the form of an 

 umbrella. It is called Elkwood in the niouniains of Virginia, probably from the resemblance which the points of the shoois 

 Iwar to the horns of the elk. The French names merely signify Umbrella-tree, and the German ones, the Three-pelaled Beaver- 

 tree or Magnolia. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 55; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 5; and the figures below. 



Deciduous. Leaves lanceolate, spreading, adult ones smooth, younger ones pubes- 



Speci/ic Characters. 

 cent underneath. 



Petals 9 12, exterior ones pendant. Don, 31iller's Diet. 



Description. 



HE dimensions of the Magno- 

 lia umbrella are such as to 

 form a connecting link be- 

 *^^ tween the large shrubs and 



trees of the third order ; although it sometimes rises 



to the height of thirty-five or forty feet, with a diam- 

 eter of five or six inches, it rarely attains this size. 



The stem is seldom erect, but generally inclined, and 



rises, from the root in twos or threes. The bark on 



the trunk is gray, smooth, and polished, and if cut 



when green, exhales a disagreeable odour. The leaves 



are eighteen or twenty inches long, and seven or eight 



inches broad. They are thin, oval, and acuminate at 



both extremities. They are often disposed in rays at j 



the extremity of vigorous shoots ; and these display 



a surface of two and a half feet in diameter, in the' 



form of an umbrella. The flowers, which open in 



May or Jime, are seven or eight inches in diameter, 



with large, white, flaccid petals. They are placed on 



the extremities of the last year's shoots, have a languid, luxuriant appearance, 



and a strong odour. The fruit is five or six inches long, and about two inches 



in diameter. It ripens in America about the beginning of October, and about 



the same period in England and France. It is conical in its form, of a beautiful 



rose-colour, and usually contains from fifty to sixty pale-red seed. 



Varieties. In 1836, at Desio, near Milan, in Italy, several young hybrid plants 



were raised from seeds which had been fecundated with the pollen of the Mag- 



