IIanurook of Trees of the Nortjiehn States and Canada 



205 



This tree, tlie northernmost and one of the 

 largest representatives of the genus in 

 America, attains in the forest the height of 

 80 or 90 ft. with straight columnar trunk li or 

 4 ft. in diameter, vested in a grayisli brown 

 scaly-ridged bark. When isolated it develops 

 a wide rouniled pyramidal top and is always 

 a tree of marked appearance on account of its 

 large handsome leaves. It inhabits mountain 

 slopes and the gravelly banks of streams, 

 rarely if ever forming pure tracts of forest, 

 but in company with various Oaks and Hick- 

 ories, the Tulip Tree, Sweet Birch, Sugar 

 Maple, White Ash, etc. 



The hardiest of the Magnolias, it is exten- 

 sively planted as an ornamental shade tree, 

 for which it is peculiarly appropriate, owing 

 to its good habit of growth and the abundance 

 of its ample leaves, which cast a dense siiade 

 and in autumn assume a pale yellow color. 



Its wood is light, a cubic foot when abso- 

 lutely dry weighing 29.23 pounds, soft, easily 

 worked and durable. 



It is very similar to the White-wood in 

 properties and applicable to the same uses. 

 It is also valued for pump logs, troughs, etc., 

 on account of its great durability. i 



LraiK'S deciduous, scattered on the hianclilets, 

 7-10 in. long, oblong or oval, rounded or slightly 

 cordate at base, acute or acuminate at apox. thin, 

 glabrous, dark green above, paler and more or 

 ipss pubescent beneath. Flowers oblong boll- 

 shaped, more or less inclosed, pale yellowish 

 green, glaucous, tbe membraneous sepals 1-1 Vj in. 

 long, and the thick obovate concave petals 'J '2 i.^ 

 in. long, the three of tbe outpr row narrower than 

 those of the inner. Fruit oblong, usually curved, 

 glabrous, dark red.= 



Var. cnrdala Sarg. is a form with broader loaves 

 and moro heart shapod at base and sihmIUt yellow 

 flowers, is found in cultivation and approximated 

 by wild flowers in South Carolina and Alabama. 



1. A. W., I, 1. 



2. For genus see p. 434. 



