THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



nese one now in cultivation. There is also in Japan 

 a form (plena) with semi-double flowers. Growing 

 and blossoming in European gardens but not hardy 

 here is Magnolia IVilsonii which is closely akin to 

 the above. This I discovered and introduced in 1904, 

 and again in 1906, together with several other Mag- 

 nolias. 



Of mysterious origin is the Japanese M. Watsonii 

 which was introduced into Europe by the Yokohama 

 Nursery Company at the Paris Exhibition in 1889. 

 The plant was purchased and taken to Kew Gardens 

 where it flowered the following year. It has not been 

 discovered in a wild state and I am inclined to regard 

 it as a hybrid between M. obovata and M. parviflora, 

 but against this view must be stated the fact that it is 

 much less hardy than either of the above. Very 

 likely it will some day be found wild in the island of 

 Shikoku or some other part of southern Japan. Its 

 leaves are rather larger and thicker in texture than 

 those of M. parviflora; its open, cup-shaped, white 

 flowers with blood-red stamens have a strong spicy 

 odour and are short stalked, and about 6 inches across. 



These are all the Magnolias found in gardens of 

 the cool-temperate parts of this country, but in the 

 South M. coco, better known as M. pumila, is here and 

 there cultivated. This is a shrubby southern China 

 species with elliptic, wavy, rather leathery, glaucous 

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