No. 62. mXGNOLIA. 31 



No. 62. MAGNOLIA MACROPHYLLA. 



Names, Bigleaf Magnolia. Fr. Magnolia grande 

 feuille. Vulgar. Laurel, Elk Wood, Itomico, Silver- 

 leaf, Bigleaf, Whitebay, Beaver Tree, Elkbark, Big- 

 bloom. 



Classif, Nat Ord. Magnolidia. Polyandria polygy- 



nia L. 



Genus Magnolia. Calix three leaved, six or nine 



petals, many stamina, pistils many, imbricate on a re- 

 ceptacle oval or oblong, capsules many, united in iai-ge 

 cones, bivalve, one or two seeded, seeds fleshy berry 

 like pendulous. 



Sp. Magnolia macrophylla^ Mx. Branches brittle, 

 mecmllar: leaves very ample, obovate or oblong, base 

 subcordate, glaucous beneath, six petals oblong ob- 

 tuse, cone oval. 



DESCRIPTION. A small tree from ten to fifty feet 



high, with few branches and leaves, bark smooth and 

 white, leaves at the end of the branches very large, from 

 a foot to a yard long, very smooth, white beneath, and 

 bright green above, base narrow and cordate, end broader, 

 but acute, margin entire, flowers solitary at the end of 

 the branches, very large, sometimes one foot broad 

 when expanded, petals six, white, with a red spot 

 near the base, cuneate at the base, obovate oblong, ob- 

 tuse or blunt, stamina and pistils yellow, pistils in a 

 long cone, fruit a cone of a ro&e colour, ovate, about six 



inches long. 



HISTORY. The most wonderful species of the most 

 beautiful genus of American trees- Altliough excelled 

 in size by the Magnolia grandiflora^ it excels in the 

 si'^e of its leaves and flowers, and has the largest leaf 

 among all our trees except the palms. The flowers are also 

 fragrant ; they blossom ip May and June. It was sup- 

 posed that this tree was confined to a few districts of 

 North Carolina, but it extends over the Allegheny and 

 Cumberland mountains of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennes- 

 see, and Alabama. I found it very common on the 

 Rockcastle and Cumberland rivers, and at the Falls, 

 where it forms a prominent feature in the scenery. It 



