Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. X St. Louis, Mo., March, 1922 No. 3 
GREAT LAUREL MAGNOLIA OR BULL BAY 
A specimen of great laurel magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) 
growing in the garden of Mr. Leonard Matthews, 5447 Cabanne 
Avenue, St. Louis, is one of the best examples of a subtropical 
tree acclimating itself in Missouri. In 1891 Mr. Matthews 
purchased 50 plants of M. grandiflora from a southern nur- 
seryman and planted them in selected places in his garden. 
The climatie conditions during the summer being similar to 
those of the south, the young trees became established, but 
with the advent of winter all froze and subsequently died ex- 
cept one specimen which was planted in a somewhat secluded 
position. It is growing upon the west end of an embankment 
facing the Hodiamont street-car tracks, and is protected on the 
north by residences and on the west by a spacious garage, 
which no doubt accounts for its having survived the severity 
of our winters. It is conical in shape, 20 feet high, with a 
well-developed trunk measuring 1 foot in diameter at the base. 
Several attempts have been made at the Garden to estab- 
lish Magnolia grandiflora, and one poor specimen which has 
been frozen back so often that it presents a shrub-like appear- 
ance, may be found south of the old Shaw residence. The 
plant is over 20 years old, and in early days was protected in 
the winter, but in spite of this covering it would freeze 
annually. The Cabanne specimen, however, has not been given 
any protection other than the natural environment, but despite 
this fact has become acclimated to the zero weather of the past 
30 winters. 
Magnolia grandiflora is naturally distributed along the At- 
lantie coast from North Carolina to Florida (Mosquito Inlet 
and Tampa Bay), west along the Gulf coast to the Brazos 
River in Texas, north along the Mississippi bluffs and bayous 
into northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Under cul- 
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