Magnolia glauca, 
THE GLAUCOUS-LEAVED MAGNOLIA. 
Synonymes. 
' Linnjsus, Species Plantarum. 
Willdenow, Berlinische Baumzucht. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
< Pursh, Flora Americae Septentrionalis, 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
^ Bigelow, Medical Botany. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Southern States. 
Other parts 
Magnolia glauca, 
Magnolier glauque, Arbre de castor, 
Grauer Bieberbaum, 
Albero di castoro, 
White Bay, Sweet Bay, 
Magnolia, Small Magnolia, Swamp 
Magnolia, Swamp Laurel, Swamp 
Sassafras, Beaver-wood, 
of the 
United States. 
Derivations. The specific name glauca is derived from the Greek, word glaucos, sea-green, alluding to the colour of the 
leaves. It is named Swamp Sassafras on account of its growing in boggy grounds, and resembling some of the qualities of the 
Laurus sassafras; and Beaver-tree, because the root is eaten as a great dainty by beavers, which are sometimes caught by 
means of it. Michaux tells us that it is felled by them for constructing their dams and houses, in preference to any other tree, 
on account of the softness of the wood. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 52 ; Audubon, Birds of America, pi. cxviii. ; Loudon, Aboretum Britan- 
nicum, v., pi. 3 ; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Almost deciduous. Leaves elliptical, obtuse, under surface glaucous. Flowers 
9 12-petaled, contracted. Petals ovate, concave. Don, Miller's Diet. 
Description. 
HE Magnolia glauca, though 
^ inferior in size to the preced- 
ing species, and less regularly 
^S^P formed, is interesting on ac- 
count of its beautiful foliage and sweet-scented flow- 
ers. It sometimes attains an elevation of forty feet, 
with a diameter of ten or twelve inches ; but it does 
not ordinarily exceed fifteen or twenty feet in height, 
either in Britain or this country, and often fruc- 
tifies at the height of five or six feet. The trunk is 
usually crooked, and divided into a great number of 
divaricating branches. The young shoots are from 
twelve to eighteen inches in length, and the roots, like 
all the species of the magnolia, are branched, and 
sparingly supplied with fibres. The bark of the trunk 
is grayish, and of a bitterish taste. The leaves are 
five or six inches long, petiolated, alternate, oblong- 
oval, or obtuse, and entire. They are of a shining 
bluish-green on their upper surface, and whitish or 
glaucous, and often silky when young, underneath. In the southern 
tree is often found with evergreen leaves, and sometimes near its nor 
limits it retains a part of its foliage durmg winter. The leaves usually 
states this 
thernmost 
fall, how- 
