DECIDUOUS TREES. 369 



The finest specimens known of this species reach one hundred 

 feet in height; but sixty feet is about the usual altitude. The 

 leaves vary from nine to twelve inches in length, and from three to 

 four or more inches in breadth ; they are always smooth and shining, 

 and entire on the edges. The flowers appear in May, and the tree 

 keeps on blooming through the season. They are white, produced 

 on the summit of the last year's shoots, and are from six to eight 

 inches in diameter. Their odor is powerfully fragrant, and when 

 too near or too abundant oppressively so. 



The evergreen magnolia flourishes in the botanical gardens and 

 parks of south France and Italy, where it has been introduced ; but 

 not with the luxuriance that marks its growth on the bottom lands 

 of the Gulf States. In England it is cultivated on walls and in 

 hot-houses. It is decidedly a tender tree, and is not likely to 

 repay any attempts to domesticate it north of Washington. 



THE CUCUMBER MAGNOLIA, M. acuminata, is a native of most 

 of the States of our Union, and grows in western forests to a 

 majestic size. Its trunk is straight, and the branches symmetrically 

 disposed around the main stem. Growing in open ground, it as- 

 sumes an ovate-conical form. The leaves are oval-acuminate, 

 from six to ten inches long, and four to seven broad, and of a 

 bluish green color. They drop early, turning to a dirty yellow 

 before they fall. The foliage is massy and abundant in soils which 

 are deep, warm, and moist; but in poor or dry ground the 

 branches are not well covered, the leaves have a pale, sickly green 

 color, and the whole aspect of the tree is coarse, and every way 

 inferior in massiveness and color of foliage to the maples, hick- 

 ories, and horse-chestnuts. The flowers, which have many petals, 

 have the form, and more than double the size of a common tulip, 

 and appear in June ; are of a pale-yellow color, varying to white 

 and bluish-white, and slightly fragrant. The fruit is about three 

 inches long, resembling when unripe a green cucumber, hence the 

 name of the tree, rose-colored, and ornamental when ripe. 



Michaux observes that the situations peculiarly adapted to its 

 growth are the declivities of mountains, narrow valleys, and the 

 banks of torrents, where the atmosphere is constantly moist, and 

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