208 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



divided into rounded lobes, whence is derived the specific name 

 of auriculata. The flowers are three or four inches in diameter, 

 of a fine white color, of an agreeable odor, and situated at the 

 extremity of the young shoots, which are of a purplish red dotted 

 with white. The flowers open in April or May, and are suc- 

 ceeded by oval cones, three or four inches long, and, like those 

 of the umbrella tree, of a beautiful rose color when ripe. Each 

 cell contains one or two red seeds. 



The wood is soft, spongy, very light, and unfit for use. The 

 bark is gray, and always smooth even on the oldest trees. When 

 the epidermis is removed, the cellular integument, by contact 

 with the air, instantly changes from white to yellow. The bark 

 has an agreeable aromatic odor, and an infusion of it in some 

 spirituous liquor is employed as an excellent sudorific in 

 rheumatic affections. 



Heart-Leaved Cucumber Tree. Magnolia cordata. 



This species of Magnolia, which in its general appearance and 

 in the form of its fruit, very nearly resembles the cucumber tree, 

 has been confounded with it by the inhabitants of the regions in 

 which it grows ; from the cordiform shape of its leaves we have 

 adopted the name of Heart-Leaved Cucumber Tree. The banks 

 of the river Savannah in Upper Georgia, and those of the streams 

 which traverse the back parts of South Carolina, are the native 

 places of this tree. The soil in which it generally grows is a 

 sandy loam. 



This tree is 40 or 50 feet in height, and 12 or 15 inches in 

 diameter. Its trunk is straight and covered with a rough and 

 deeply-furrowed bark, very much resembling that of the sweet 

 gum and of the young white oak. Its leaves which are borne 

 upon long petioles, are from four to six inches in length, from 

 three to five inches wide, smooth and entire. The flowers which 

 appear in April, are yellow, with the interior of the petal 

 longitudinally marked with several reddish lines. The flowers 

 though somewhat smaller than those of the cucumber tree, are 

 nearly four inches in diameter. The cones are about three 



