8 MAGNOLIA GLAUCA. 
ever, in autumn, and are renewed early in the following spring. This tree begins 
to flower in Florida and the southern states, the last of April or early in May, and 
a month or six weeks later in Massachusetts. The flowers are single, two or three 
inches broad, and are produced at the extremity of the last year's shoots. They 
have six white concave petals, and an agreeable perfume, which may be perceived 
at a considerable distance. If shut up in a close apartment during the night, they 
communicate to the air a heavy and almost insupportable odour. They are of 
short duration, although the tree continues flowering for several months. It is not 
unfrequent to find it in bloom, in the south, in autumn. The fruit is composed 
of numerous cellules, and varies in length from an inch to an inch and a half, 
and when of full size, is an inch in diameter in the widest part. When ripe, 
the cones are of a reddish-brown, and the seeds, which are of a scarlet colour, 
burst their cells, and hang down several days by white, lax, slender threads, as 
in most of its congeners. 
Varieties. The only aboriginal varieties of this species are the M. g. arborea, 
which assumes the character of a tree ; and that which retains its foliage during 
a greater part or all the year, and is sometimes called M. g. sempervirens. Two 
other varieties are noticed by Pursh, one of which has the under surface of the 
leaves somewhat silvery, and is called M. g. argentea, and another with longer 
leaves than usual, called M. g. longifolia. There are also two varieties, supposed 
to be hybrids, produced between this species and the Magnolia umbrella. They 
are usually known under the names M. g. thompsoniana and M. g. longifolia. 
Geography and History. The Magnolia glauca has the most extensive range, 
especially near the sea, of any of the genus. It abounds from Massachusetts to 
Louisiana and Missouri. Its most northern boundary may be considered a shel- 
tered swamp in Manchester, Cape Ann, about thirty miles northerly of Boston. 
It here attains but a small size, and is frequently killed to the ground by severe 
winters. In the maritime parts of the Floridas and lower Louisiana, it is one of 
the most abundant among the trees which grow in morasses or wet grounds. It 
is not usually met with far interior, nor to the west of the Alleghanies. In the 
Carolinas and Georgia, it grows only within the limits of the pine-barrens. 
This species was introduced into England by Rev. John Banister, who sent it 
to Bishop Compton, at Fulham, in 1688. It was soon afterwards generally prop- 
agated by American seeds, and became known throughout Europe many years 
before any of the other species. At Woburn Farm, Chertsey, there was formerly 
a row of these trees twenty feet high, and nearly a century old, which frequently 
ripened their seeds. 
In France, and southern Europe generally, this species is not very abundant, 
from the great heat of the summers, and the general dryness of the air. At Ver- 
sailles and the Petit Trianon, as well as in Belgium, it has attained the height of 
fifteen feet. In the north of Germany, and in Sweden and Russia, it is a green- 
house plant. At Monza, in Italy, it is found in all of its varieties. 
In 1843, a tree of this species was cut by Dr. Torrey, on Long Island, New 
York, nearly forty feet in height, and six or eight inches in diameter, which con- 
tained about eighty concentric rings or annual layers. On the estate of Lemuel 
W. Wells, in Yonkers, (formerly Philipsburgh,) New York, there is a Magnolia 
glauca thirty feet in height, with a trunk six feet in circumference two feet above 
the ground, and is supposed to be more than a hundred and fifty years old. 
Soil and Situation. In its natural habitat the Magnolia glauca grows most 
abundantly in deep, boggy swamps and marshes, composed of a black, miry soil : 
but when cultivated in Europe or in this country, the soil should be a deep sand', 
or a sandy peat, kept moist, more especially in summer. The situation should 
be sheltered, and shaded by large trees, but it should not be overspread by 
them. 
