30 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



59. Magn61ta actiminiita. 



and cordate acuminate. The flowers are 4- or 5 inches in diameter, bhjish, 

 and sometimes white, with a tint of yellow. They have but a feeble odour, 

 and the petals are never fully expanded, though, as they are large and 

 numerous, they have a fine effect in the midst of the superb foliage. 

 Plants raised from seeds do not usually produce flowers till they are 

 eight or ten years old, when the tree will probably be from 15 ft. to 20 ft. 

 in height ; but plants raised from layers produce flowers in two or three 

 years. The fruit is about 3 in. long, and nearly 1 in. in diameter. It is 

 nearly cylindrical, and often a little larger at the summit than at the base : it 

 is convex on one side, and concave on the other ; and, when green, it nearly 

 resembles a young cucumber: it becomes rose-coloured when ripe; and, as 

 in the case of the ether species, the seeds, before they drop, remain sus- 

 pended for some time by long white threads. The woo'd of this tree is of a 

 fine grain, and of an orange colour. A free, deep, and rather moist soil answers 

 best for this species ; but, as it is much hardier than any of the others in this 

 section, it will grow in almost any soil that is moderately free, and not over- 

 charged with moisture. It is generally propagated in the London nurseries 

 by layers, the j)lants so produced flowering much sooner than seedlings ; but 

 the latter, as they make far more durable plants, should always be preferred 

 when this species is used as a stock to graft or inarch others on. It is so used 

 very generally, not only for M. auriculata and cordata, but for M. conspicua 

 and Soulangeraa. The plants are, in some nurseries, grown in the free soil ; 

 but it is always preferable to rear them in pots ; because, in tiiat case, 

 they are not checked by transplanting, and at least a year is gained in their 

 growth. 



" 6. M, (a.) corda^ta Mr, The heart-ler/vcd Magnolia. 



Ideniiflcation. Mich. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 328. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 80. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 83. ; Tor. 



and Gray, 1. p. 43. 

 Sf/nonymes . The heart-leaved Cucumber Tree, Amer. ; Magnolier a Feuilles en Coeur, Fr. ; heri- 



bliitiriger Bieberbaum, Ger. 



