ir 



TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 39 



fibrous nature. Although it is mostly used for fuel it is quite 

 worthy of a place in cabinet work. As is true of all the 

 magnolias, the juice of the tree is intensely bitter and aromatic. 

 It has been used as a tonic. 



It is interesting to reflect that the beautiful Council-tree at 

 Charleston, South Carolina, was a magnolia. According to 

 tradition it was under its shade that on the twenty-first of 

 pril, 1780, General Lincoln held a council with his officers 

 nd many citizens of Charleston as to the advisability of 

 retreating before the British. The decision was in the nega- 

 tive and three weeks later the city was surrendered. Until 

 1849 the magnolia was held in especial veneration by the 

 inhabitants of Charleston. At that time its branches spread 

 themselves over a space of more than two hundred square 

 feet. It had then unfortunately passed into the possession of 

 one who, being devoid of all sentiment, ruthlessly chopped it 

 down for fire-wood. 



. 



SMALL MAGNOLIA. SWEET BAY. LAUREL HAG- 

 NOLIA. SWAI1P SASSAFRAS. {Plate VIII.) 



Magnolia Virginiana. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Magnolia. Slender. 50-70 feet. Eastern Mass. southward to May-A ugust. 



Florida, westward to Texas. 



Bark: light brown or greyish, covered with thin appressed scales. Branch- 

 lets : bright green the first year, becoming reddish brown with age. Leaves : 

 simple; alternate; entire; obovate; pointed, with distinct midrib; thick; 

 dark green above and shiny, downy and whitish underneath. Flowers : white; 

 fragrant ; two to three inches in diameter ; solitary and terminal at the ends of 

 the branches. Calyx : of three sepals on the receptacle. Corolla : broader 

 than high ; of six to nine rounded petals. Stamens * numerous. Pistils : 

 numerous; arranged in the shape of a cone. Fruit : cone-like ; red, each pod 

 with one or two scarlet seeds. 



It is only in the north that this exquisite tree is reduced to 

 the condition of a shrub of from about four to twenty feet 

 high. Its bloom, however, is quite as waxen and fragrant as 

 when borne on the more stately tree of the south. Another 



