MAGNOLIACE^E 343 



the base of the fleshy homogeneous albumen, its radicle next the hilum; cotyledons short 

 and spreading. 



Magnolia with about thirty species is confined to eastern North America, southern 

 Mexico, and eastern and southern Asia, seven species growing naturally in the United 

 States. All the parts are slightly bitter and aromatic, and the dried flower-buds are some- 

 times used in medicine. Several species from eastern Asia and their hybrids producing 

 flowers before the appearance of the leaves are favorite garden plants in the United States. 



The genus is named in honor of Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), professor of botany at 

 Montpellier. 



CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Styles deciduous from the follicles of the fruit; petals greenish or yellow; winter-buds silky 



tomentose. 



Petals greenish; branchlets glabrous. 1. M. acuminate (A, C). 



Petals canary yellow; branchlets pubescent. 2. M. cordata (C). 



Styles persistent on the follicles of the fruit. 

 Petals white. 



Leaves coriaceous, persistent; fruit and branchlets tomentose. 3. M. grandiflora (C). 

 Leaves thin, deciduous (semipersistent in 4). 

 Leaves cuneate at base. 



Leaves scattered along the branches, pale and pubescent below; winter-buds 



glabrous or silky pubescent. 4. M. virginiana (A. C). 



Leaves crowded at the ends of the flowering branches, green and glabrous below: 



winter-buds glabrous. 5. M. tripetala (A, C). 



Leaves cordate at the narrow base; fruit tomentose; winter-buds hoary-tomentose. 



6. M. macrophylla (C). 

 Petals pale yellow or creamy white; leaves obovate-spathulate, auriculate, crowded at 



the ends of the flowering branches; winter-buds glabrous. 



Leaves acute; petals pale yellow; tips of the mature carpels elongated, straight or 



incurved. 7. M. Fraseri (A, C). 



Leaves bluntly pointed; petals creamy white; tips of the mature carpels short, incurved. 



8. M. pyramidata (C). 



1. Magnolia acuminataL. Cucumber-tree. Mountain Magnolia. 



Leaves oblong-ovate, oblong-obovate or elliptic, abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded, 

 cuneate or rarely slightly cordate at base, when they unfold densely villose below and 

 slightly villose above, and at maturity thin, yellow-green and glabrous on the upper sur- 

 face, paler and glabrous or villose-pubescent on the lower surface, 6'-10' long, and 4'-6' 

 wide, with often undulate margins; turning dull yellow or brown in the autumn before 

 falling; petioles slender, pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, I'-l^' in length. 

 Flowers on hairy soon glabrous pedicels ^'-f ' long, bell-shaped, green or greenish yellow 

 covered with a glaucous bloom; sepals membranaceous, acute, \'-\\' long, soon reflexed: 

 petals 6, ovate or obovate, concave, pointed, erect, 2|'-3' long, those of the outer row 

 rarely more than 1' wide and much wider than those of the inner row. Fruit ovoid or 

 oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, 2|'-3' long, rarely more than 1' thick; seeds 

 obovoid, acute, compressed, about \' long. 



A pyramidal tree, 60-90 high, with a trunk 3-4 in diameter, comparatively small 

 branches spreading below and erect toward the top of the tree, and slender branchlets 

 coated at first with soft pale caducous hairs, soon bright red-brown, lustrous, and marked 

 by numerous small pale lenticels, turning gray during their third season. Winter-buds: 

 terminal, oblong-ovoid, acuminate, thickly covered with long lustrous white hairs, 

 \'-\' long, and about three times as long as the obtuse compressed lateral buds nearly 

 surrounded by the narrow elevated leaf-scars conspicuously marked by a double row 



