250 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



which there were, the season previous, three thousand blossoms 

 open upon it at oi.ce. "The branches spread over a space of 

 fifteen feet in diameter, and the stem, near the ground, eight 

 inches in diameter. Its growth highly symmetrical. For the 

 last ten years it has never, in a single season, failed to produce 

 a fine display of blossoms." He states, that its usual period of 

 blossoming is from the fifth to the twenty-fifth of April. It is 

 grafted on the Cucumber Tree, (M. acuminata,} which he sup- 

 poses renders the tree more hardy and vigorous than it would 

 be on its own stock or root. 



" The next most ornamental Chinese Magnolia," he says, 

 " is Soulange's Purple, (Magnolia Soulangiana.) This is a 

 hybrid seedling, raised by the late Chevalier Soulange Bodin, 

 the distinguished French horticulturist. The habit of the tree 

 is closely similar to that of the conspicua ; its blossoms, equally 

 numerous, are rather larger, but the outside of the petals is 

 finely tinged with purple. It partakes of the character of both 

 its parents, having the growth of Magnolia conspicua^ and the 

 color of M. purpurea, (or, indeed, a lighter shade of purple.) 

 Its term of blooming is, also, mid-way between that of these 

 two species, being about a week later than that of the white, 

 or Gulan Magnolia. It is also perfectly hardy in this latitude." 

 The Magnolia purpurea is sometimes seen in large gardens 

 about Boston, but is a little tender. " It is a shrub of six to 

 eight feet high. The blossoms are white within, of a fine 

 dark-lilac or purple on the outside, and quite fragrant, like the 

 others." The flowers begin to open early in May, and con- 

 tinue blooming a number of weeks, or, if in the shade, through 

 most of the summer. M. gracilis differs from the purple-flow- 

 ering only in its more slender growth, and narrower leaves and 

 petals. 



The same gentleman remarks, that, " If these noble flowering 

 trees have a defect, it is one which is inseparable from the 

 early period at which they bloom, viz., that of having few or 

 no leaves when the blossoms are in their full perfection ;" and 

 suggests, that the planting of the American Arbor VitaB and 



