DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 221 



the size and fragrance of their blossoms, or the beauty of 

 their large and noble foliage, we may be allowed to doubt 

 whether there is a more magnificent and showy genus of 

 deciduous trees in the world. With the exception of a few 

 shrubs or smaller trees, natives of China and the mountains 

 of Central Asia, it belongs exclusively to this continent, as 

 no individuals of this order are indigenous to Europe or 

 Africa. The American species attracted the attention of 

 the first botanists who came over to examine the riches of 

 our native flora, and were transplanted to the gardens 

 of England and France more than a hundred years ago, 

 where they are still valued as the finest hardy trees of that 

 hemisphere. 



The Large Evergreen Magnolia (M. grandijlora), or 

 Big Laurel, as it is sometimes called, is peculiarly indige- 

 nous to that portion of our country south of North Carolina, 

 where its stately trunk, often seventy feet in height, and 

 superb pyramid of deep green foliage, render it one of the 

 loveliest and most majestic of trees. The leaves, which 

 are evergreen, and somewhat resemble those of the laurel 

 in form, are generally six or eight inches in length, thick in 

 texture and brilliantly polished on the upper surface. The 

 highly fragrant flowers are composed of about six petals, 

 opening in a wide cup-like form, of the most snowy white- 

 ness of color. Scattered among the rich foliage, their 

 effect is exquisitely beautiful. The seeds are borne in an 

 oval, cone-like carpel or seed-vessel, composed of a number 

 of cells which split longitudinally, when the stony seed, 

 covered with a bright red pulp, drops out. There are 

 several varieties, which have been raised from the seed of 

 this species abroad ; the most beautiful is the Exmouth 

 Magnolia, with fine foliage, rusty beneath ; it produces its 



