'20 MAU.NOLIA CONsriCUA. 



A notice of tliis variety will be found under the head of history. Tiie cliief dil- 

 t'orcnce between tliis wvc and the sjuM-ies, eonsists in its leaves beinj^^ larger and 

 more pointed, its llowers marked with purple witliin, and its fruit larger and 

 containing more seeds. 



2. M. c. Ai.EXANDKiNA, Loudou. Tkc Einpress Alexandrine's Conspicnous- 

 Jloirercd Masj^nolia. This variety so elosely resembles the ])receding, that it 

 'annot be distinguislu^d, exce})t in llowering somewhat earlier. 



Geography and History. The Magnolia conspicua is said to be indigenous to 

 the southern provinces of China; and to be extensively cultivated there in the 

 gardens of the emperor, and in those of all eminent persons, who can afford to 

 procure it. It began to be cultivated in that country in tin; year 627, from which 

 time it has always held the very first rank, as an ornamental tree, in their gar- 

 dens, and is regarded by the Chinese poets as the symbol of candour and beauty. 

 It is not only planted in the open grounds, and allowed to attain its full size, 

 but dwarfs are kept in pots and boxes, and forced throughout the year, so as to 

 keep up a perpetual supply of bloom in the apartments of the imperial palace. 

 So highly is this tree valued, that a plant in flower, presented to the emperor, is 

 thought a handsome present. In very severe Avinters, the trunks of the trees in 

 the open air are sometimes wrapped round with straw ropes ; but it never 

 requires any other protection, even in the climate of Pekin. 



The tree was first introduced into England by Sir Joseph Banks, in 1789 ; but 

 it was many years before it attracted much attention, being considered merely 

 as a green-house, or conservatory plant. Within the last twenty years, it has 

 been discovered to be nearly as hardy as the American magnolias, and is now 

 most extensively cultivated in the nurseries of Britain, continental Europe, and 

 the United States. It flowers freely every year, as a standard in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, New York, and Philadelphia, when the wood has been prop- 

 erly ripened during the preceding summer ; and at White Knights, in England ; at 

 Fromont, and various other places in France ; and at Monza, in Italy, and Brook- 

 lyn, in New York, it has ripened seeds from which young plants have been raised. 



At Fromont, near Paris, in front of the chateau of M. Soulange-Bodin, stands 

 the largest plant of the Magnolia conspicua in Europe. It measures over forty 

 feet in height, and twenty-four inches in circumference, two feet from the ground ; 

 and the diameter of the space covered by the branches is more than twenty-five 

 feet. It flowers magnificently every year, at the end of March and beginning 

 of April, and the perfume of its blossoms is perceived for some distance around. 

 It was from the seeds of this tree that sprang the far-famed variety. Magnolia 

 conspicua soulangeana^ the leaves, wood, and general habits of which, are allied 

 to those of the parent tree ; but the flowers resemble in form those of the Magno- 

 lia purpurea, or of the Magnolia purpurea gracilis, and the petals are slightly 

 tinged with purple. This variety was accidentally produced by fecundating the 

 flowers of the Magnolia conspicua with the pollen of those of the Magnolia pur- 

 purea. The original plant of the Magnolia conspicua soulangeana, at Fromont, 

 is more than twenty feet in height, and though it flowered several years before. 

 It did not ripen seeds till 1834. The seeds have been sown, and some new and 

 interesting varieties produced from them. 



The largest Magnolia conspicua in England is at Eastwell Park, in Kent, 

 which is reputed to be more than forty feet in height. An original imported 

 plant, trained against a wall at Wormleybury, in England, measured twenty- 

 seven feet in height, covered a space laterally of twenty-four feet, and had on it, 

 in April, 1835, five thousand flowers ! 



In the garden of Mr. William Davison, in Brooklyn, New York, there is a 

 Magnolia conspicua, ten years planted, twenty-four feet in height, with a head 

 eighteen feet in diameter, which, in April, 1844, contained six thousand flowers ' 



