MAGNOLIACE.E. 



CHAP. I.] 



shaped, and it is divided into six white 

 petals. The calyx consists of 

 three sepals, which fall off soon 

 after the petals expand. In the 

 centre of the flower is the recep- 

 tacle, drawn up into a fleshy cone, 

 with a great number of carpels 

 attached to it, each of which 

 has one cell containing two ovules, 

 and a curved stigma. Around 

 this cone grow the stamens, 

 with very long anthers standing 

 up like palisades, and very 

 short thick filaments. The fruit 

 is oval, with the ovaries somewhat 

 distant from each other. The 

 flowers appear before the leaves. 

 The other Asiatic species are 

 M. gracilis or Kobus, M. discolor, 

 ohovata^ or purpurea^ and M. 

 fuscata ; the former two forming 

 handsome shrubs in the open 

 ground, and having cup-shaped 

 flowers which are white within and 

 purplish on the outside, and the 

 latter being a greenhouse plant, 

 wuth brown very fragrant flowers. 



The American species of Mag-FiG.ios.-THE ] 

 noha differ in having their flower- ""^^^'J^ ™;^ 



R 2 



243 



fleshy 



li 



