DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERING SHRUBS. 425 



" Few ornamental plants are better worth the attention 

 of the gardener. Carefully trained, it forms a beautiful 

 little tree. No plant is, at any season and in every con- 

 dition, more beautiful. The flower, pure white, two or 

 three inches broad, is as beautiful and almost as fragrant 

 as the Wliite Lily. The fruit is a cone, about two inches 

 long, covered with scale-like, imbricated ovaries, from 

 which, when mature, escape the scarlet obovate seeds, 

 which, instead of falling at once to the ground, remain some 

 time suspended by a slender thread. The bark of the 

 young shoots is smooth and of a rich apple-green, after- 

 Avards becoming of a soft glaucous or whitish color." 



Although naturally growing in wet ground, it will 

 flourish in almost any good garden soil, if not exceed- 

 ingly dry, particularly if partially shaded from the sun. 

 It may be propagated by layers, — which require two 

 years to root sufiiciently, — or by seed, if great care is 

 observed. 



IW. conspicua. — White Chinese Magnoha, Yulan. — This 

 is called M. Yulan by some botanists. This forms a 

 large tree, but flowers when only a few feet high. Flow- 

 ers white, appearing before the leaves. 



M, purpurea. — Purple Chinese Magnolia. — Similar in 

 habit to the foregoing, with long dark-purple flowers. 

 Each of these presents several varieties, and there are 

 some hybrids. The late A. J. Downing, says : — 



" They are certainly among the most striking and orna- 

 mental objects in our pleasure-grounds and shrubberies in 

 the spring. Indeed, during the months of April and the 

 early part of May, two of them, the White, or Conspicua^ 

 and Soulange's Purple, or SoylangioMa, eclipse every 

 other floral object, whether tree or shrub, that the garden 

 contains. Their numerous branches, thickly studded with 

 large flowers, most classically shaped, with thick, kid-like 

 petals, and rich, spicy odor, wear an aspect of novelty 



