i 5 2 TREES GROWING IN RICH SOIL. 



and pubescent. Flowers : three to six inches in diameter ; terminal ; solitary. 

 Calyx: reflexed. Corolla: pale greenish yellow; fragrant, with six large obo- 

 vate, narrow pointed petals. Fruit: large; ovate ; glabrous ; becoming rose 

 coloured when ripe. Seeds : orange-red and hanging when released from the 

 pods by fine white filaments. 



When we wander through a strip of woodland where the soil 

 is rich and the atmosphere feels as though it were a shroud of 

 humid vapour, we may look about among the white ash, the 

 white oak and the sugar maples for the fragrant bloom of Mag- 

 nolia acuminata. But it is generally a rare find, and it is not 

 sufficiently common to be much associated with the forests. Its 

 growth is most luxurious in the valleys at the bases of the 

 mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. At all seasons 

 of the year it is a notable tree, although it can not be com- 

 pared to the great-flowered magnolia, which has, however, 

 attained so leading a place in beauty's ranks that it is per- 

 haps unjust to use it as a standard for others. The resemblance 

 of the tree's fruit when green to a small cucumber is responsi- 

 ble for its English name. Magnolia acuminata has been used 

 with much success as a stock on which to graft Magnolia Vir- 

 ginia and the magnolias of Eastern Asia. They then grow 

 more freely than when left entirely dependent upon themselves. 

 The wood of the tree has been used in cabinet work ; but gen- 

 erally speaking that of the whole genus, excepting Magnolia 

 fcetida, is too soft and spongy to be of any great value. 



M. cordata, yellow cucumber tree, is a variety of this species 

 which is widely cultivated. It is hardy as far northward as 

 Boston. A most beautiful effect is produced by it when its 

 lemon-coloured flowers are pushing out of the buds. 



SMOOTH AZALEA. TREE AZALEA. {Plate LXXV.) 



Azalea arboriscens. 



FAMILY 8HAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Heath. Rounded. 8-20 feet. Southern Penn. to June, July. 



North Carolina. 



Bark: dark, tinged with red. Leaves: simple; alternate; petioled ; obo- 

 vate, acute at both ends, with entire margins which are delicately fringed. 

 Bright green and lustrous above, paler and glaucous underneath ; in drying 

 fragrant. Flowers: rose coloured or white; very fragrant; growing in terminal 



