THE MAGNOLIAS, ETC. 23 



height of 50 feet or more, and has a trunk two or 

 three feet in diameter if circumstances are favorable 

 to a perfect development. Its bark is light brown- 

 gray ; the new twigs are decidedly green, and turn 

 a ruddy hue as they grow older. The leaves are 

 thick, oval-shaped, obtuse, and at most not over six 

 inches long; the middle rib is very prominent, the 

 stem slender, and the surface below very whitish. In 

 the South the old leaves remain on the tree until the 

 new ones appear ; in the North they fall in Novem- 

 ber. The cream-white flowers are much the same 

 shape as the yellow pond lily, roundish, and bloom 

 from May to August ; they are also fragrant. This 

 tree, frequently seen in gardens, in its wild state is 

 never found north of Gloucester, Mass., and is mere- 

 ly local there ; it appears also beside the red maple 

 and andromeda bush in the deep swamps of New 

 Jersey; from there it extends southward near the 

 coast, and forms with the loblolly and red bay almost 

 impenetrable thickets in Florida, especially in the 

 interior swamps and pine barrens.* 



Cucumber Tree. The cucumber tree in the South 

 Magnolia grows from 50 to 90 feet high, but 



acuminata. . . -. . . , 



attains only a moderate size m the 

 North. In beauty it is not to be compared with the 



* Vide Silva of North America, C. S. Sargent. 



