138 



NATURAL mSTOItY OF PLANTS. 



Thus constituted,' the genus Magnolia contains half a hundred 

 species, which are trees or shrubs, usually as remarkable for the 

 beauty of their foliage as for that of their flowers, which are white, 

 red, or greenish, and almost always scented. The leaves are 

 alternate, persistent or deciduous, with the sides of the petiole dilated 

 near the base into a sort of membranous sac, which according to 

 most authors, represents the stipules, and which envelopes all the 

 parts of the branch superior to it when young. If, for example, 

 we examine the top of a branch of M. grandifora, above the last 

 developed leaf we see a membranous sac like an elongated cone 

 inserted by its base all round the axis above the petiole. This 

 sac certainly represents two lateral, somewhat supra-axillary stipules, 

 for on the side next the petiole they become entirely separate 

 from one another. Later on, the sort of leaf-opposed gutter 

 thus formed again splits on the opposite side of the branch into 

 two halves. These two organs then become detached at the base 

 from the branch also, discovering the young parts at its summit, 

 which were at first enveloped by these membranous caducous 

 stipules. In this species the}'- are free from the petiole. !More 

 frequently they adhere to it for one third, one half, or as much as at 

 least two-thirds of its height. For their fall it is necessary that 

 they should be detached from the petiole itself, and in this case we 

 find on its inner face a scar like a narrow elongated hollow, indi- 

 cating where they adhered to it.* The flowers are solitary, usually 



1. Eumagtwlia (incl. Yulania, 

 Lirianthe, Tutipastrum). 



2. Talatima (incl. Btumea, Buer- 

 MagnoUa. / g^in, Aromadendron). 

 Sections 5. 3. Manglietia. 



4. Liriopsis (incl. MIcJieliopsis 

 H. Hk.). 



5. Micfielia. 



A sammary of the distinctive characters of 

 theiM? five sections, ns cstahhslicd above, will be 

 found in Adanxonia, vii. GO. 



* The chief arrangements aflVcted by the 

 stipule of Magnolia have been studied Vjy TnicUL 

 in his " Mt'inuire »ur la formation drx ftrtiillea" 

 {Ann. Sc. Nut., si'-r. 3, xx. 'i:V>). This savant 

 ol«crves th.it "in M. Uinbrilhi, SouUingiiina, 

 fee., the stijjules arc united to one another and 

 partly to the petiuli-. This union gives rise to a 

 niileworthj jiliiiioinenon. The stipules jH.T»isting 

 lunger tlian the leaf, the hlaile falls oil' above the 

 part united to the stipules, while this part only falls 

 later with them, lu il.grandijhra the stipules 



are free from the petiole and from one another." 

 In the same work (296, figs. 175, 176) we find 

 that the stipules of M. grandiflora have been 

 studied in their development ; a phenomenon de- 

 scribed as follows : — " A protuberance arises on 

 the summit of the axis, swollen at the base on 

 the inner side. If we examine it in front, we 

 see that the slender superior part and the swollen 

 base are marked by a longitudinal groove which 

 foreshadows the formation of the blade above and 

 the stipules below. These I have always seen 

 with their margins close together from their 

 origin, concealing the summit of the axis. Here 

 I speak of M. grandijtura only. The same 

 thing occurs in Liriodemiron TuHpift^a." We 

 further read in a note : " The vernation is in- 

 duplicative in Liriodendron and .Ungnolitt ; the 

 leaf is folded along the midrib. In M. gramli- 

 Jlura there arc often hairs at the top of the leaf 

 l)efore any have yet ajijH-ared at the Ume, to 

 which they gradually exteiul along the midrib." 

 In nearly all of the MagnoltM there arc mem- 



