ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



36. Magnolia glauca ThompsoniAna. 



Other Varieties. M. glauca Gordomana and M. glauca Burckeltiana are 

 names found in nurserymen's catalogues, of varieties said to .have double or 

 semi-double flowers. M. g. longifolia Pursh is supposed to be an abori- 

 ginal variety, and sub-evergreen ; but we think it probably the same variety 

 as M. g. Thompsonzawa, which may have come up wild in America, as well 

 as in Mr. Thompson's nursery. M. g. Cardomi, M. Cardon J. Knight, is a 

 variety imported from Belgium, where it was found by Mr. Knight of 

 the Exotic Nursery, in the nursery of M. Cardon, after whom he has 

 named it. 



A low tree, nearly evergreen in moist soils, with a slender stem, covered 

 with a smooth whitish bark. The wood is white and spongy; the young 

 shoots of a fine green. The leaves are smooth, of a bluish green on their 

 upper surface, and whitish or glaucous and a little hairy underneath. The 

 flowers are produced in May or June, at the extremity of the last year's shoots. 

 They have six concave white petals, and have an agreeable odour. The 

 spike or strobile of fruits is an inch or more in length, conical, an inch in 

 diameter in the widest part, and of a reddish brown colour when ripe. When 

 the plant is in a soil supplied with moisture during the summer, it continues 

 to produce flowers till the autumn, and retains part of its leaves all the winter : 

 in dry situations the leaves drop off. Seeds are frequently ripened in Eng- 

 land : they are of a bright scarlet, and they hang down by slender white 

 threads, as in all the other American species. The young shoots are from 1 ft. 

 to 18 in. in length, and the plant, in ordinary circumstances, will attain the 

 height of 12ft. in ten years. Plants are generally raised from seeds imported 

 from America, which should be sown in pots of bog earth about the begin- 

 ning of March, and placed in gentle heat under glass. In a year they will be 

 fit to transplant into, small pots; and every year they should be shifted into 

 others of a larger size, till wanted for final planting out. M. glauca Thomp- 

 sonidna, and the other varieties, are propagated by layers, which require two 

 years to root properly. 



