i64 THE MAGNOLIA FAMILY. 



THE MAGNOLIA FAMILY. 



Magnoliaccce. 



Trees or shrubs with simple^ alternate, entire or lobed leaves, and 

 large, solitary flowers ; their stamens nunierous and their pistils 

 arranged on an elongated receptacle in the shape of a cone. 



ERASER'S MAGNOLIA. LONG OR EAR=LEAVED 

 UriBRELLA TREE. 



Magnolia Frascrt. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Magnolia. Straight. 10-^0 feet. Florida ajui Mississippi to Ma}\Jiine. 



North Carolina. 



Bark of branches : reddish or grey with many wart-like dots, bitter. Leaf- 

 duds : glabrous. Leaves: growing with slender petioles at the end of the 

 branches ; auriculate ; long obovate or ovate-spatulate, pointed at the apex and 

 narrowed at the base where are formed two side lobes ; entire ; bright green 

 above, lighter below ; thin; glabrous. /'"/t'Wf^rj- ; cream- wiiite ; fragrant ; three to 

 eight inches in diameter. Ca/j/x : with three early-falling, petal-like sepals. 

 Corolla: with six or nine long, obovate petals, blunt or bluntly pointed at the 

 apex. Stamens : \\\x\\\&xow%\ anthers, intorse, linear. Cone of fruit: four or five 

 inches long ; oblong ; brilliant red at maturity, with coral coloured and fleshy seeds. 



Among- the magnolias, that group of individuals so interwoven with the 

 silva and poetry of the south, this one is of especial interest. Of them all, it 

 is the least widely distributed, choosing as its best loved home certain chains 

 and ridges of the great Appalachian system, such as the Blue_Ridgeyflie 

 Black Mountains, or the Big Smokies. William Bartram, the first botanist 

 to explore the higher peaks of the Alleghanies there discovered it; and 

 indeed through the deep ravines of these mountains, growing side by side 

 with the common hemlock it forms a contrast so striking and beautiful 

 that it could hardly be overlooked. It was in August when I first saw it, 

 and through its bright foliage the ripe fruit gleamed brilHantly. The seeds 

 had burst open the pods and were hanging by filaments as misty and fine 

 as the lines of a spider's web. In the way in which its leaves grow at the 

 ends of the branches this magnolia resembles the umbrella tree. In fact, 

 the mountain people call it indiscriminately by that name, as well as wild 

 cucumber tree, mountain magnolia, Indian physic or even Wahoo, a name 

 which is usually applied to Ulmus alata. 



M. acuniinata, cucumber tree which occurs northward as far as the 

 southern part of New York, can be distinguished from the preceding species 

 by its thin oval leaves which are pointed at the apex and mostly rounded 

 at the base and which grow, moreover, scattered along the branches. Its 



