ilAGKOLIACEiE. 



SUVA OF NOETH AMERICA. 



11 



MAGNOLIA MACROPHYLLA. 



Large Leaved Cucumber Tree. 



Leaves deciduous, obovate or oblong, cordate at the narrow base. Pistils woolly. 

 Fruit and young shoots pubescent. AYinter-buds covered with thick silky white hairs. 



Magnolia macrophylla, Michaus, Fl Bor.-Am. 1. 327. — 

 Nouveau DuJiamel, i\. 221. — Desfontaines, Hist. Art. \i. 

 5. — Miehanx i. Hist. Arh. Avi. iii. 99, t. 7. — Bonpland, 

 PL Malm. 84, t. 33. — Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 381.— 

 Nuttall, Gen. n. 18; Sylva, I 83. — De Candolle, Sijst. i. 

 454 ; Prodr. i. 80. — Bot. Mag. t. 2189. — Hayiie, Dendr. 

 Fl. 117. — Elliott, Sic. ii. 40. — Kafinesqae, Med. Bot. ii. 

 31, t. 62. — SeHum Botanicum, v. t. — Don, Gen. Sj/st. i. 



83. — Eeicheiibaeh, Fl. Exot. 44, 1. 139. — Loudon, .4 rZ<. 

 Brit. i. 271, t. — Torrcy & Gray, Fl. N. Am. i. 43. — 

 Dietrich, Sijn. iii. 308. — Spach. Hist. Veff. vii. 479. — 

 GrilHth, Med. Bot. 98, f. 57. — Chiipinan, Fl. 14. — Cur- 

 tis, Geoloff. Surv. iV. Car. ISGO, iii. 67. — Koch, Dendr. i. 

 374. — Sargent, Forest Trees N.Am. lOlk Census U. S. 

 ix. 21. — Lloyd, Drugs and Med. N. Am. ii. 38, t. 30. — 

 "Watson & Coulter, Grcujs Man. cd. G, 119. 



A spreading tree, thirty to fifty feet high, with a straight trunk -^vliieh sometimes attains, micler 

 favorable conditions, a diameter of eighteen or twenty inches. The bark of the trunk on old trees is 

 thin, generally less than a quarter of an inch thick, the surface divided Into minute scales, smooth and 

 light gray in color. The bark of the stout brittle branchlets is green, turning reddish brown during 

 the second; and becoming gray during the third season. The leaves are membranaceous, obovate or 

 oblong, narrowed and cordate at the base, strengthened by a prominent midrib and primary veins, and 

 borne on stout petioles three or four inches long. They are often twenty to thirty inches long or more, 

 and nine or ten inches broad, and are bright green and glabrous on the upper surface, silvery gray and 

 slightly pubescent, especially along the midrib, on the lower surface. The great creamy white cup- 

 shaped fragrant flowers, ten or twelve inches across when expanded, appear In May and June. The 

 sepals are membranaceous, ovate or oblong, rounded at the end, five to six Inches long, and much nar- 

 rower than the six ovate concave petals which are six or seven inches long and three or four Inches 

 broad, those of the inner row being narrower and often somewhat acuminate. They are thick, creamy 

 white, marked on the interior surface near the base with a small rose-colored spot, and at maturity are 

 reflexed above the middle. The fruit is broadly ovate, or often nearly round, two and a half or three 

 inches long, and when fully ripe bright rose-colored. The seeds are two thirds of an Inch long, often 

 flattened on the face opposite the raphe. 



Magnolia macrophylla Is found in the region about the base of the southern Alleghany Moun- 

 tains, from North Carolina and southeastern Kentucky to middle and western Florida and southern 

 Alabama ; it extends through northern Mississippi to the valley of the Pearl River in Louisiana ; and 

 west of the Mississippi Elver it occurs in central Arkansas in Garland, Montgomery, Hot Springs, and 

 Sebastian comities. 



Magnolia 'macropliylla inhabits sheltered valleys In deep rich soil, protected from the wind by the 

 forest of Swamp Chestnut Oaks, Gum-trees, Hickories, and Dogwoods, which are usually associated witli 

 it. It is nowhere a common tree, growdng generally m isolated groups of a few individuals. In the 

 Atlantic states it has been found in a few mdely separated regions only ; west of the mountains it is 

 more abundant, reaching Its best development in the limestone valleys of northern Alabama, 



The wood of Magnolia macrophylla is hard and close-grained, but hght and not strong. It is 

 light brown in color, and has, when perfectly dry, a specific gravity of 0.5309, a cubic foot of the ury 

 wood weighing 33.09 pounds. The thick sapwood, consisting of about forty layers of annual growth, 

 is light yellow. 



