MAGNOLIACE^E. 



SILVA OF JS-QETH AMERICA 



3 



MAGNOLIA FCETIDA. 



Magnolia. Bull Bay. 



Leaves evergreen, coriaceous, ferriiginoiis-tomciitose beneath. Pistils woolly 

 Fruit and shoots of the year densely pubescent. 



Magnolia f cetida, Sargent, Garden and Forest, ii. 615. 



Magnolia Virginiana, y3. fcetida, Linn^us, Spec. 536. 



Magnolia graudiflora, Linu^us, Spec. ed. 2, 755. — MiUei-, 

 Diet. ed. 8. — Edwards, Brit. Herb. 46, t. 93. — Marshall, 

 Arhust. Am. 84.— /core. Am. Gewach. ii. 45, t. 185, 

 186. — "Walter, Fl. Car. 158. — Ga-rtner, Fruct. i. 343, t. 

 70. — Lamarck, Diet. iii. 672; III. iii. 35, t. 490.— 

 Moench, Meth. 274. — Willdeuow, .S'^ec. ii. 1225. — Mi- 

 chaux, Fl. For.- Am. i. Zll. — Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 219, 

 t. 65. — Desfontaines, Hist. Arb. ii. 5. —Andrews, Bot. 

 Rep. viii. t. 518.— Michaux, f. Rist. Arb. Am. iii. 71, t. 

 1. — Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 380. — Nuttall, Gen. ii. 18. — 

 De Candolle, Syst. i. 450 ; Prodr. i. 80. — Elliott, Sk. ii. 



36.— Andubon, Birds, t. 5, 32. — Don, Gen. Syst. i. 

 82. — Loudon, Arh. Brit. i. 261, t. — Torrey & Gray, Fl. 

 N.Am. i. 42. — Dietrich, Sijn. iii. 308. — Spadi, Hist. 

 Veg. vii. 470. — Chapman, Fl. 13. — Curtis, Geolog. Siirv. 

 iV. Car. 1860, iii. 66. ~ Baillon, Hist. PI. i. 133, f. 165- 

 169; Diet. i. 557, f. — Koch, Dendr. i. 367. — Keisuke 

 Ito, Icon. Bot. Gard. Koishikawa, i. t. 18. — ■ Sargent, For- 

 est Trees N. Am. 10th Census U. S. ix. 19. 

 M. grandiflora, var. elliptica and obovata, Pursh, Fl. Am. 

 Sept. ii. 380. 



M. grandiflora, var. lanceolata, Pursli, Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 

 380. — Bot. Mag. t. 1952. 



A noble tree, of strict pyramidal liabit, sixty to eighty feet in lieiglit, "witli a tall straight trunk 

 sometimes under favorable conditions four to four and a half feet in diameter. The bark of the trunk 

 on fully grown individuals is a half to three quarters of an inch thick, gray or light brown in color, 

 covered with thin appressed scales rarely more than an inch longj that of the branches is smooth, liglit 

 gray, and much thinner. The leaves, which fall in the spring at the end of their second year, are bri'»-lit 

 green, shining, coriaceous, oblong or ovate, strengthened by a prominent midrib and primary veins, and 

 borne on stout petioles an inch or two long. They are five to eight inches long and two to three inches 

 broad. The underside, as well as the petiole, winter-buds, and spathe, is coated with a thick dark rusty 

 tomentum, varying greatly in length and density. The dehciously fragrant creamy white proterogynous 

 flowers, seven or eight inches across when expanded, continue to open from April or May until July or 

 August. The petaloid sepals and the six or sometimes nine or twelve petals are abruptly unguiculate, 

 oval or ovate, those of the inner rank often somewhat acuminate, concave and coriaceous. They are 

 three or four inches long, and one and a half to two inches broad. The base of the receptacle and lower 

 part of the filaments are bright purple. The fruit is ovate or oval, rusty brown and pubescent, three 

 to four inches long, and one and a half to two and a half inches broad. The seeds are nearly half an 

 inch long, somewhat triangular, often flattened on the face opposite the raphe by mutual pressure. 



The northern station of Magnolia fcetida is on the coast of North Carolina soutli of the Cape 

 Fear Eiver. In South Carolina and Georgia it is rarely found more than fifty or sixty miles from the 

 coast; in Florida it extends across the peninsula as far south as Mosquito Inlet on the east coast and 

 the shores of Tampa Bay ; it is common in the maritime portions of the GuLf states as far west as the 

 valley of the Brazos Eiver in Texas, extending through western Louisiana to southern Arkansas, and 

 appearing on the bluffs of the lower Mississippi Eiver as far north as the mouth of the Yazoo River in 

 Mississippi.^ Magnolia fcetida flourishes in rich moist soils. Near the coast it is generally confined 

 to the borders of river-swamps and pine-barren ponds ; in western Louisiana it is often the character- 

 istic and most conspicuous feature of the forest ; and here, and on the rich high rolling hills of the 

 Mississippi bluffs, this tree reaches its greatest development. It is usually found associated with the 



1 Magnolia Inglefieldi, the direct ancestor, perhaps, of M. fcetida, was common in the Arctic region during the Tertiary period. (Ileer, 

 Fl. Foss. Arct. vii. 121, t. 69, f. 1, t. 85, f. 3, t. 8G, f. 9.) 



