280 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
climate of Pekin. The tree was introduced into England by Sir Joseph 
Banks in 1789; but it was many years before it attracted much attention, being 
considered as requiring a green-house or conservatory. . So little was it known 
in 1807, that it is not enumerated among the magnolias described in Martyn’s 
Miller’s Dictionary, published in that year, Within the last twelve years, 
it has been discovered to be nearly as hardy as the American species, and it is 
now most extensively cultivated in the nurseries, both in Britain and on the 
Continent, and finds a place in every collection. It flowers freely every year, 
as a standard, in the neighbourhood of London, when the wood has been pro- 
perly ripened during the preceding summer: and, at White Knights,in England; 
at Fromont, and various other places, in France; and at Monza, in Italy, it 
has ripened seeds from which young plants have been raised. Some of the 
flowers having been fecundated with the pollen of M. purptrea or gracilis, 
some hybrid varieties have been produced, of which the most beautiful is M. 
c. Soulangedna. 
Properties and Uses. Besides its value as an ornamental plant, the 
Chinese pickle the flower-buds, after having removed the calyx, and use them 
for flavouring rice. Medicinally, the seeds are taken in powder, in colds and 
inflammations of the chest. It is also regarded as stomachic; and water, in 
which it has been steeped, is used for bathing the eyes when inflamed, and for 
clearing them of gum. The Chinese poets call the tree the symbol of candour 
and beauty. (NV. Duh., i. p. 225.) (ae 
Soil and Situation. A rich sandy loam seems to suit this species best ; but 
it will grow in any deep free soil, properly drained, and moderately enriched. 
The situation, when it is to be treated as a standard, ought to be sufficiently 
open to admit of ripening the wood in autumn, and yet not so warm as to urge 
forward the flower-buds prematurely in spring, as they are very liable to be 
injured by frost; from which, however, they may be protected bya very slight 
covering (during nights and frosty days) of gauze or bunting, stretched over 
the tree horizontally and supported by posts. Against a wall, the tree shows 
itself in its greatest beauty ; and there it can easily be protected, bya projecting 
coping, from the severest weather ever experienced in the neighbourhood of 
London. In warm situations, sloping to the south or south-east, the tree has 
a fine effect planted in front of a bank of evergreens; and, indeed, wherever it 
is planted, evergreens should be placed near it, and, if possible, so as to fori 
a back ground, on account of the flowers expanding before the tree is furnished 
with any leaves. 
Propagation and Culture. The species and.all the varieties are propagated 
by layers, or by inarching on the Magnolia purpurea, or on the M. acuminata. 
When grafted on M. purpirea, the tree is comparatively dwarfed, by which it 
is rendered very convenient for use as a shrub, or for growing in pots ; but, 
when it is intended to form a tree, it should either be grafted on M. acuminata, 
or raised from layers or seeds. It generally requires two years before the 
plants can be separated from the parent stock. Some plants of this species 
have been raised from seed ripened in Europe ; and we have no doubt that, 
when this magnificent tree becomes better known and more generally in de- 
mand, it will be raised in this way as extensively as M. acuminata and M. 
glatca are at present. 
Statistics. An original imported plant, against a wall at Wormleybury, mea- 
sured, in April, 1835, 27 ft. high, covered a space laterally of 24 ft., and had 
on it, at that time, 5000 flowers! In Lee’s Nursery there are several plants 
above 20 ft. high, as standards, which flower magnificently every year. At 
Harringay there is a tree of M. conspicua 25 ft. high, against a wall; and in 
the same garden there is one of M. c. Soulangedna, 6 years inarched upon 
a strong plant of M. cordata, which is 20 ft. 6 in. high, the branches extending 
over a space 16 ft. in diameter, and the diameter of the trunk, at a foot from 
the ground, being 1 ft. lin. In the Kensington Nursery there is a tree of the 
same height (fig. 35.), of which we had a drawing made in the first week in 
April, 1827, when it was covered with 1100 blossoms. There is a large 
