THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



Topsfield, Mass., and in the Cottage Gardens 

 Nursery, Long Island. It is essentially a woodland 

 plant, delighting in moist slopes and quite likely, if 

 we could get it properly established, all would be 

 well. 



Finally there are the Asiatic Magnolias which open 

 their flowers after the leaves unfold, in the manner of 

 the American species. Of these, three only are in 

 cultivation in this country, but none is well known. 

 The most striking is M. obovata, more generally 

 known as M. hypoleuca, which in general appear- 

 ance resembles the American M. tripetala. It is 

 widely distributed in forests of Japan from the 

 south to the north and is known as the "Honoki." 

 At its best it is a tree 80 feet tall and 7 feet in girth 

 with smooth gray bark and a shapely crown of stout 

 branches. The leaves are from a foot to a foot and a 

 half long by half this width in the broadest part, 

 which is above the middle, and are deep green above 

 and silvery beneath. Its flowers are bowl-shaped, 

 6 to 8 inches across, milk-white fading to apricot 

 with a ring of red-purple anthers, and are heavily 

 fragrant. It has very large cone-like fruits which 

 are bright scarlet when ripe and very conspicuous. 

 This Magnolia is an important timber tree in the 

 forests of Hokkaido, and with M. kobus var. borealis 

 reaches the most northern geographical limit of the 



