MAGNOLIACE^E 



,'349 



gray and pubescent, especially along the stout midrib and primary veins on the lower 

 surface, 20'-30' long, 9'-10' wide; falling in the autumn with little change of color; petioles 

 stout, 3'-4' in length, at first tomentose, becoming pubescent. Flowers on stout hoary- 

 tomentose pedicels l'-l|' long, soon becoming glabrous or puberulous, cup-shaped, fra- 

 grant, 10'-12' across; sepals membranaceous, ovate or oblong, rounded at apex, much nar- 

 rower than the 6 ovate concave thick creamy white petals with a rose colored blotch at 

 base, 6'-7' long and 3'-4' wide, at maturity reflexed above the middle, those of the inner 

 row narrower and often somewhat acuminate. Fruit ovoid to nearly globose, pubescent, 

 2'-3' long, bright rose color when fully ripe; seeds obovoid, compressed, ' long. 



A tree, 30-50 high, with a straight trunk 18'-20' in diameter, stout wide-spreading 

 branches forming a broad symmetrical round-topped head, and stout brittle branchlets 

 hoary- tomentose when they first appear, light yellow-green, pubescent, and conspicuously 



marked during their first winter by the large irregularly shaped sometimes longitudinal 

 slightly raised leaf-scars with many scattered fibro-vascular bundle-scars, turning reddish 

 brown during their second and gray during their third season. Winter-buds: terminal, 

 bluntly pointed, covered with a thick coat of snowy white tomentum, If '-2' long, f'-f 

 thick; lateral, much flattened, brownish, pubescent, \'-\' long. Bark generally less than 

 I' thick, smooth, light gray, divided on the surface into minute scales. Wood hard, close- 

 grained, light, not strong, light brown, with thick light yellow sapwood of about 40 layers 

 of annual growth. 



Distribution. Sheltered valleys in deep rich soil; nowhere common, and growing gen- 

 erally in isolated groups of a few individuals; Piedmont region of central North Carolina 

 to middle and western Florida, southern Alabama, southern and northeastern Mississippi 

 to the valley of the Green River, Kentucky; in eastern and western Louisiana; probably 

 most abundant in south-central Mississippi. 



Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states, and in the temperate 

 countries of Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts. 



7. Magnolia Fraseri Walt. Mountain Magnolia. Long-leaved Cucumber-tree. 

 Leaves obovate-spatulate, acute or bluntly pointed at apex, cordate and conspicuously 

 auriculate at base, bright green and often marked on the upper surface w y hen young with 

 red along the principal veins, glabrous, 10'-12' long, 6'-7' wide, or on vigorous young 

 plants sometimes of twice that size; falling in the autumn without change of color; petioles 

 slender, 3'-4' in length. Flowers on stout glabrous pedicels covered with a glaucous 

 bloom and l'-l|' long, pale yellow, sweet scented, 8'-10' across; sepals narrowly obovate, 



