MAGNOLIACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 16. 



MAGNOLIA. 



Carpels arranged in compact spikes, opening by the outer 

 angle, 1-2-seeded, persistent. Seeds baccate, somewhat cor- 

 date, hanging down from the carpel by the aid of a long umbi- 

 lical cord. 



54-. M. glauca Linn. sp. pi. 755. Mich. arb. forest, iii. 77. 

 Bigelow med. bot. ii. t. 27. Common in the morasses of the 

 middle and southern states of America, where it is called 

 " Swamp Sassafras, Beaver tree," &c. 



Bark of the young twigs of a bright smooth green, scarred with rings at 

 the insertion of the leaves by the fall of the deciduous stipules. Leaves 

 alternate, stalked, regularly elliptical, entire, smooth. Their under side, 

 except the midrib, of a pale, glaucous colour. When young, covered with 

 a silken pubescence. Flowers solitary, terminal, on a short, incrassated 

 peduncle. Sepals three, spatulate, obtuse, concave. Petals 8 to 14, 

 obovate, obtuse, concave, contracted at their base. Stamens numerous 

 inserted in common with the petals on the sides of a conical receptacle ; 

 filaments very short; anthers linear, mucronated, 2-celled, opening 

 inwardly. Ovaries collected into a cone, each divided by a furrow, and 

 tipt with a brownish, linear, recurved style. Fruit a cone, consisting of 

 imbricated cells, which open longitudinally at the back for the escape 

 of the seed. Seeds obovate, scarlet, connected to the cone by a 

 funiculus, which suspends them some time after they have fallen out. 

 Bark bitter and aromatic, resembling and even rivalling in its qualities 

 cinchona. Particularly useful in chronic rheumatism. Tincture of 

 the bark, seeds, and cones, equally efficacious. 



LIRIODENDRON. 



Carpels arranged in spikes, 1-2-seeded, indehiscent, deci- 

 duous, extended into a sort of wing. 



55. L. tulipifera Linn. sp. pi. 755. Sot. mag. t. 275. Mich, 

 arb. forest, iii. 202. Bigelow med. bot. ii. t. 31. Forests in 

 the United States. (Tulip tree.) 



Leaves roundish, beautifully smooth and bright green, long-stalked, 

 3-lobed, smooth, with the lateral lobes ovate the middle one truncated ; 

 the former in the large leaves, furnished with a tooth or additional lobe 

 on their outside. There is a variety with the lobes of its leaves not 

 pointed, but very obtuse. Flowers large, solitary and terminal. Bracts 

 2, triangular, falling off as the flower expands. Sepals 3, large, oval, 

 concave, veined, of a pale green colour, spreading at first, but afterwards 

 reflexed. Petals 6, sometimes more, obtuse, concave, veined, of a p l0 

 23 C4- 



