212 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



the stone, decays and leaves it naked. The stone contains a 

 white milky kernel. 



The wood of the big laurel is soft, and remarkable for its 

 whiteness, which it preserves even after it is seasoned. It is 

 said to be easily wrought and not liable to warp, but not durable 

 w T hen exposed to the weather : for this reason the boards are 

 used only in joinery in the interior of buildings. In trees from 

 fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, there can be discerned no 

 mark of distinction between the sap and the heart of this wood, 

 except a deep, brown point, six or eight lines in diameter, in the 

 centre of the trunk. 



Large-Leaved Umbrella Tree. Magnolia macrophylla. 



This Magnolia is the least multiplied of the American species, 

 and is rarely met with in the forests. On account of the resem- 

 blance of its leaves to those of the umbrella tree, the two species 

 have hitherto been confounded by the inhabitants of the districts 

 in which they grow : we have, therefore given it the specific 

 name of Large-Leaved Umbrella Tree, which is sufficiently 

 characterstic. It is found in small quantities on the mountains 

 of North Carolina. West of the range, in Tennessee, it is more 

 common, but even here only a few trees are found together, at 

 intervals of forty or fifty miles. It delights in cool situations 

 sheltered from the wind, where the soil is deep and fertile. 



The large-leaved umbrella tree arrives at the height of 30 or 

 35 feet, with a diameter of four or five inches. The trunk is 

 covered with a very smooth white bark, by which in the winter, 

 when stript of its leaves, it is readily distinguished from the 

 umbrella tree. At this season it differs also from the umbrella tree 

 in its buds, which are compressed instead of being rounded at the 

 end, and which are covered with a soft and silvery down. Of 

 all this genus, this tree bears the largest leaves : some of them 

 are 35 inches long and 9 or 10 inches broad. They are borne 

 on petioles, short in comparison with the size of the leaves, and 

 are of an oblong shape, pointed at the extremity, and cordiform 



