130 



NATURAL mSTORY OF PLANTS. 



(figs. 165, 166, 168, 169), and Yu/rtn' (figs. 167, 171) cultivated 

 everywhere, of wliicli tlie former has persistent leaves, the latter leaves 

 which fall every year, and magnificent flowers produced at the end 

 of the winter before the leaves. On 

 examining these flowers we first notice 

 that the axis or receptacle has the form 

 of a cylindro-conoidal hranch, bearing 

 successively from below upwards a pe- 

 rianth, a large number of stamens, and 

 carpels inserted on a spiral." In the flower 

 of M . (jraudijhra the perianth first presents 

 three more or less greenish' free leaves, 

 imbricated in the bud (fig. 166), so that 

 most usually one is quite outside and one 

 quite inside, while the third is overlapped 

 by the former on one side, and overlaps 

 the latter on the other. These leaves, 

 usually described as sepals, fall early. Within are two corolline 

 whorls, the one consisting of .three petals alternate with the 

 sepals, the other of three interior to these and alternate with 



Magnolia grand'tjlora. 

 Fig. 166. 

 Diagram. 



» Desf., Arhres, ii. 6.— DC, Prodr., n. 10 

 (sect. Gwillimia Rottl.). — M.confpicuaSi.LiaB., 

 Par. Lond., t. 38. — Yulania conspicua SPACn, 

 Suil. a Suffun, vii. 464. 



- The fraction of tlie phyllotaxy of the Magno- 

 liacere is usually -|. Accordingly, in the arrange- 

 ment of the floral appendages we meet with the 

 fractions derived from this up to ^'.^ and t/j. 



^ Their colour varies with the individual leaf 

 and with the ape of the flower. Very often the 

 sepals when adult are as white as the petals, or 

 nearly so. When young they are usually of a de- 

 licate preen. These facts show how characters of 

 coloration and consistency may he sometimes un- 

 rcliahle ami insufhcient to distinguish a calyx from 

 R corolla. It would no doubt be more correct to say 

 that in M. gramlijlont 1,., the perianth is triple, 

 and that the leaves of tlie two inner whorls are 

 usually iworvpetaloid when adult than those of the 

 outer one. Inother species the diflerence of colora- 

 tion between the sei)als and petals is no longer 

 appreciable when adult. Thus, in many ])lant8 of 

 M. Yilan I)i:.sf. and «S'M//"n7/V/mi (hybrid), all the 

 leaves of the perianth are so himilar that one may 

 wellsjjy that these flowers jMwsess a triple corolla 

 and nocidyx. It is sometimeH the hamo with the 

 nine yellowish green primrose leaves of the peri- 

 antli of 3/. (icumiiitila L. In M. glauca L. they 



are sometimes all white and similar, sometimes the 

 two or three outermost leaves are green. M. macro- 

 phylla Miciix.has usually three preen or grL-enish 

 sepals and six white petals. In the flowers of .1/. 

 purpurea CrBT., we almost invariably tind a 

 great diflerence between the six petals, which are 

 broad, erect, and wine-red on the outside, and the 

 three sepals, which are small, and are early re- 

 flexed on the peduncle and become brownish. 

 The total number of j)ii'ces in the ])erianth is also 

 very variable in cultivated sjK'cies ; as many as 

 twenty and upwards may sometimes becounteil, as if 

 the flower showed signs of becoming double. Wo 

 have demonstrated (Adaiuouia, vii. ;}) that these 

 variations have no real imiwrtance ; that in cer- 

 tain species those very leaves have In-en called 

 sepals, which in others have l)een named petjds ; 

 while the sejjals of authors are often only bnicta 

 preceding the flower, representing the sheaths or 

 dilated petioles of leaves, and continuing the 

 spiral series of the leaves properly so-calUnl. The 

 seimls too are inserted along the same spiral. 

 Hence it is that, as shown in fig. 1R(). there is 

 no sepal exactly opjwsite or alternate with the 

 bract which iunncdiately surrounds the flower. 

 Moreover, the nature of the jmi-ccs of the ]H>rianth 

 is shown by these facts; they are leaves re*luci-d 

 to the basilar portion. 



