8 



SIZVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



MAGSOLIACK.E. 



of the dry wood weighing 29.23 pounds. The thin sapwood, consisting- usually of twenty-five to thirty 

 layers of annual growth, is Ughter colored, often nearly white. The rarity of the Cucumber-tree de- 

 prives the wood of commercial importance; the trunks, however, were formerly cut for water-pipes and 

 troughs, and are occasionally manufactured into lumber used for flooring and in cabinet-making, for 



which it is well suited. 



Magnolia acuminata was first made known in 1736 by John Clayton.^ A few years later John 

 Bartram^ sent i)lants to Peter Colhnson,' in whose gardens and in those of Lord PetreMt was first cnlti-- 

 vated in Europe. The earliest description is that of Cateshy.^ 



Magnolia acuminata is now often planted in the United States, and in northern and central 

 Europe. Its habit of retaining its lower branches when it is allowed sufficient room for their develop- 

 ment, its rapid growth and handsome fohage and flowers, make it a desirable ornament for the lawn ; its 

 pyramidal habit and lofty stem, for the formal plantations of the highway. It has been found that the 

 Magnolias of eastern Asia with precocious flowers, their hybrids, and Magnolia ylauca, grow more rap- 

 idly and make larger and more vigorous plants when they are grafted on Magnolia acuminata than 

 they do when grown on their own rootsj and it is now often used for this purpose in American nurseries. 



Magnolia cordata,^ a variety of this species, has been cultivated in gardens for nearly a century. 

 It is distinguished by its broader, darker green, and more persistent leaves, sometimes cordate at the 

 base, and by its smaller bright canary-yellow flowers.'^ This tree Avas probably introduced into Europe 

 by the elder Michaux, but the exact counterpart of the cultivated plant is not known in a wild state.* 

 Forms approaching it in the shape and texture of the leaves, and in the size and color of the flowers, are 

 occasionally found, however, on the Blue Ridge in Carohna and in central Alabama.^ 



1 John Clayton (1CS6-1773) ; born at Fulliam in England. He 

 emigrated to Virginia in 1705, and is best known by the Flora Vir- 

 ginica pnblislied in 1739 at Leyden by Gronoviiis, from specimens 

 and descriptions furnished by Clayton. 



2 John Bartram (1099-1777) ; the first botanist born in ^^^'ortli 

 America, and the founder of the first botanical garden on the con- 

 tinent. Bartram traveled extensively through the eastern part of 

 the conntry ; he was in active correspondence with the principal 

 botanists in Europe, and discovered and introduced many American 

 plants into gardens. 



3 Peter Collinson (1G91^1768) ; a Friend and London woolen- 

 draper, ill whose gardens, first at Peekliam and then at Jlill Hill, 

 many American trees were cultivated in Europe for the first time. 



* Robert James, eighth Lord Petre (1713-1742) ; an enthnsias- 

 tic lover of plants, whose gardens at Thorndon Hall in Essex are 

 thought to have been the finest in England in their day. His early 

 death was described by Collinson as "the greatest loss that botany 

 or gardening ever felt in this island." 



5 Magnolia Jlore alho, folio majore acumlnalo laud albicante, Nat. 

 Hist. Car. ii. Appx. 15, t. 15. ~ Clayton, Fl. Virgin. 61. 



Magnolia foliisovato-lanceolatis, lAmii&Ms, Hort. Cliff.22% 



« Magnolia acuminata, var. cordata, Sargent, Am. Jour. Sci. ser. 

 3, xxsii. 473. 



M. cordata, Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 328. — -Poiret, Lam. Diet. 

 Suppl. iii. 574. — Michaux f. Hist. Arb. Am. iii. 87, t. 4. — Pursli, 

 Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 382. — Lindley, Bol. Reg. iv. t, 3li5, — Xuttall, 

 Gen. ii. 18. — De Candolle, Sgst. i. 455; Prodr. I 80. — Hayne, 

 De>idr. Fl. 118. — Elliott, Sk. ii. 38. — Loddlges, Bot. Cab. t. 474. — 

 SeHum Botanicum, v. t. — Don, Gen. Syst. i. 83. — Reichenbacii, Fl. 

 Exot. iv. t. 250. — Loudon, Arb. Brit. i. 275, t. — Janme St. ililaire, 

 Flore et Pomone, v. t. 452. — Xorrey & Gray, Fl. N. A m. i. 43. — 

 Chapman, Fl. 14. — Curtis, Geolog. Surv. N. Car. 18G0, iii. 08.— 

 Koch, Dendr. i. 371.— Lloyd, Drugs and Med. iV. Am. ii. 37. 



Tulipastrum Americanum, var. suhcordatum, Spach, Hlsl. Veg. vii. 

 483. 



' Michaux's specimen upon which Richard founded his .1/. cor- 

 data, preserved in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris repre- 

 sents a common form of M. acuminata. 



8 According to Alton {Tlort. Kew. ed. 2, iii. 331), M. cordata was 

 introduced into England in 1801 by John Fraser, a ticoLchniau who 

 traveled in North America between 1780 aiul ISIO, and sent many 

 American plants to Europe (Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 300). 



^ Our figure is made from specimens taken from one of the two 

 trees in the botanic garden of Harvard University, whicli wore im- 

 ported from Europe, probably not long after the garden was estab- 

 lished in 1805. 



