i68 THE MAGNOLIA FAMILY. 



Although with the return of the flowering season the tuhp tree bursts 

 radiantly into bloom, it does so in rather an obscure way and many who 

 pass under it are unconscious that it is fairly laden with exquisitely scented 

 and strangely coloured flowers. This is because they are greenish on their 

 outsides and thus as one looks up into the tree they blend in harmony with 

 and seem to form a part of the leaves. Only when they are taken in the 

 hand is the full beauty of the orange coloured marking within the cup ap- 

 preciated. And these blossoms are well out of reach, for the tree is one of 

 the tallest of the American forest. They drop, however, a good deal on the 

 ground. With its lofty grey stem and crown of beautiful leaves the tulip 

 tree is one of the most notable of our forests and attains in the Mississippi 

 bottoms to a growth of exceeding luxury. In cultivation also it is a dis- 

 tinguished individual. 



Of the young trees the smooth grey bark, which is very bitter, is collected 

 by the people and used alone, or mixed with equal parts of dogwood bark, 

 as a remedy for intermittent fevers. Those through the south, it seems, 

 who know the tree well enough to thus claim its aid usually refer to it as 

 the " yaller poplar," a name, however, which is rather unfortunate. The 

 timber of the tree is, of course, very valuable. 



ANI5E=TREE. 



Illiciuin Florida7ium. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Magnolia. Deep )naroon. Like anise. Florida to Mississippi. April. 



Flcnveis : large; showy ; perfect ; solitary or a few together growing at the ends 

 of leafy shoots. Calyx : with usually three sepals. Petals: numerous ; linear. 

 Stamens : wwva^xowi. Fruit: rounded with jwinted ovate, spreading valves. 

 Leaves : long oblong, or oblanceolate ; taper-pointed at the a]iex and tapering in- 

 to the margined petiole at the base; entire; glabrous; tliick ; evergreen. A 

 shrub six to ten feet high ; the young twigs, greyish and somewhat angled. 



The anise-tree is interesting, closely related as it is to the magnolias, and 

 also because it is one of the beautiful features of southern sandy swamps. 

 Its showy, dark coloured flowers remind us a little of the strawberry shrubs' 

 blossoms, although they have not the same delicious scent, and to many the 

 odour of anise which clings to the tree is not quite agreeable. 



/. par7nfloriijn, which occurs along the coast from Florida to Georgia, is 

 known at once from the related species as its flowers have fewer and rounded, 

 yellow petals. 



