254 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



base, where they are rounded into lobes. The flowers are 

 not so fine as those of the preceding kinds, but still are 

 handsome, pale greenish white, and about four inches in 

 diameter. 



Besides these, there is a smaller American Magnolia, 

 which is the only sort that in the middle or eastern 

 sections of the Union grows within 150 miles of the sea- 

 shore. This is the Magnolia of the swamps of New 

 Jersey and the South (M. glauca), of which so many 

 fragrant and beautiful bouquets are gathered in the season 

 of its inflorescence, brought to New York and Philadel- 

 phia, and exposed for sale in the markets. It is rather a 

 large bush, than a tree ; with shining, green, laurel-like 

 leaves, four or five inches long, somewhat mealy or 

 glaucous beneath. The blossoms, about three inches 

 broad, are snowy white, and so fragrant that where they 

 abound in the swamps, their perfume is often perceptible 

 for the distance of a quarter of a mile. 



The foreign sorts introduced into our gardens from 

 China, are the Chinese purple {M. purpurea), which 

 produces an abundance of large delicate purple blossoms 

 early in the season ; the Yulan or Chinese White Magno- 

 lia {WI. conspicua), a most abundant bloomer, bearing 

 beautiful white, fragrant flowers in April, before the leaves 

 appear ; and Soulange's Magnolia {M. Soulangiana), a 

 hybrid between the two foregoing, with large flowers 

 delicately tinted with white and purple. These succeed 

 well in sheltered situations, in our pleasure-grounds, and 

 add greatly to their beauty early in the season. Grafted 

 on the cucumber tree, they form large and vigorous trees 

 of great beauty. 



The Magnolia, in order to thrive well, requires a deep, 



