82 MAGNOLIA FAMILY 



about an inch long, and large, insipid fruit tWo to five 

 inches in length. It grows near Lake Okeechobee, and 

 elsewhere in wet places in the southern part of the 

 peninsula. 



Other species of Annona are found in Central and South 

 America, and yield some of the most highly prized fruit 

 of those regions, — the cherimoya, sugar-apple, custard- 

 apple, soursop, and others. 



MAGNOLIA FAMILY (Magnolmceae) 



Evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers 

 solitary, fragrant, of 6 or more petals. Fruit cone-shaped. 



'Great Magnolia and Sweet Ba? ^ Genus Magnolia) 



Although a native of the "sandhills" may say that he 

 hunted a wildcat "over yonder in the bay," it does not 

 follow that the wildcat in his wildness has become aquatic, 

 for in Florida a dense growth of evergreen trees and shrubs 

 in a low area, where water may stand in the rainy season, 

 is known as a "bay." 



In such bays, and on the borders of lakes and streams, 

 the sweet bay, Magnolia glauca, grows, showing the ellipti- 

 cal, pointed leaf, that is so common a leaf -form in Florida, 

 and bearing in spring and early summer fragrant flowers 

 that are a small edition of those of the great magnolia. 

 The silvery gray-green under surface of the leaves is a 

 noticeable characteristic by which this beautiful magnolia 

 may be identified at any time. The leaves and bark have 

 an aromatic flavor not unlike that of the bay leaves used 

 in cookery. The latter, however, are gathered from a 

 laurel of the Mediterranean flora. A commercial oil is 

 made from the sweet bay, and also from the star anise 

 of this family. 



The great magnolia, M. grandiflora, with leathery, shin- 



