The Magnolias and the Tulip Tree 



drained, with good supply of moisture, for these trees are heavy 

 feeders. 



Magnolias can be obtained from nurserymen as lusty young 

 trees ready for transplanting. They cost from 75 cents to 

 $1.50. There are both native and exotic kinds for North and 

 South. 1 would strongly urge everyone to refrain from taking 

 young magnolias from the woods. They are scarce enough 

 there, and transplanting such trees requires more than a general 

 knowledge of such work. It is much better to leave them where 

 they are. 



Magnolia, Great Laurel Magnolia (Magnolia fceiida, Sarg.) 

 — A regular, conical tree, 50 to 80 feet high; trunk 2 to 4 feet 

 in diameter; branches, strict, ascending. Bark thin, scaly, light 

 brown or grey; on branches, smooth, pale grey. IVood hard, 

 close grained, heavy, cream coloured turning to brown. Buds 

 rusty pubescent, scaly; terminal, i to i^ inches long. Leaves 

 alternate, oval, 5 to 8 inches long, leathery, shining above, lined 

 with rusty down, or smooth and dull green; persistent until 

 second spring. Flowers, April to August; white, cup shaped, 6 to 

 8 inches across when spread; fragrant; solitary on end of twig; 

 sepals three, petal-Hke; petals thick, waxen, 6 to 9; stamens, 

 many, purple at base; pistils, many, crowded. Fruit, a rusty 

 brown, oval cone, 3 to 4 inches long, pubescent; seeds flat, red, 

 two in each cell, hung out on threads; ripe in November. Pre- 

 ferred habitat, rich, moist soil; swamp borders or river banks; 

 sometimes on uplands. Distribution, North Carolina coast to 

 Florida (Mosquito Inlet and Tampa Bay), west along Gulf coast 

 to Brazos River Valley in Texas; north along Mississippi bluffs and 

 bayous into northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Uses: 

 Superb ornamental tree, hardy to Philadelphia. Branches cut for 

 Christmas decorations. Wood used for fuel. 



The magnolia that Linnaeus named grandiflora is a kingly 

 tree. It is not graceful, for its limbs are stiffly erect. Even the 

 twigs and leaves are stiff, and in blossom the tree is like a great 

 system of candelabra, each terminal bud containing a single 

 flower. But look at a fine specimen tree as it stands in a Southern 

 garden new-washed by a night rain. Each leaf of the dark 

 pyramid of green reflects the sunlight like a blade of polished 

 metal. This lustrous foliage mass is just the foil to set off the 

 purity of the white flowers. Each is like a great camellia or a 



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