336 TREES IN WINTER 



CUCUMBER TREE 

 Mountain Magnolia. 

 Magnolia acuminata L. 



HABIT — When fully developed a tall tree up to 90 ft, in height with 

 a trunk diameter of 3-4 ft. with comparatively slender branches widely 

 spreading- at the base, ascending above, forming a broadly conical head; 

 vvhen young having somewhat the aspect of a Pear Tree. 



BARK — Grayish-brown ridged and flaky. 



TWIGS — Slender, brown, shining, smooth or at times slightly downy, 

 aromatic. LENTICELS — scattered, inconspicuous, orange colored. PITH 

 • — white. 



liEAP-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, crescent to, U-shaped, 

 elevated. STIPULE-SCARS — distinct, arising from upper margins of 

 leaf-scar and encircling twig. BUNDLE-SCARS — large, few to numer- 

 ous, scattered in an imperfectly double row, more or less raised. 



BUDS — Thickly covered with pale silky hairs; lateral buds blunt, 

 nearly surrounded by leaf-scars, about % the size of terminal bud; 

 terminal bud oblong, blunt, 10-20 mm. long. BUD-SCALES — valvate and 

 adhering in pairs, with rudimentary leaf-scar and decurrent ridge at 

 side of bud. 



FRUIT — An ovate to oblong cone, often curved, generally under 6 cm. 

 long; in the young condition supposedly resembling a cucumber; seed 

 flattish about 1 cm. in diameter. 



COMPARISONS — The Cucumber Tree belongs to the same genus as 

 the Umbrella Tree, but differs from it in its smaller, blunt, downy buds, 

 its narrow leaf-scars and its scaly ridged bark; from the Large-leaved 

 Magnolia by the smaller size of its buds, its narrow leaf-scars and its 

 scaly ridged bark; from the Sweet Bay by its larger size, the color 

 of its twigs and the character of its bark. For character of the Sweet 

 Bay see p. 206. The Chinese Magnolia \_Magnolia conspicua Salisb.] is of- 

 ten culitivated and has downy buds resembling those of the Cucumber 

 Tree, The buds, however, are stouter, the bark is smooth and the 

 species is more shrubby than tree-like. 



DISTRIBUTION — Not native to New England; the hardiest of the 

 Magnolias and extensively planted as an ornamental shade tree. It 

 .grows wild from western New York to southern Illinois and southward 

 along the Appalachian mountains to southern Alabama. 



AVOOD — Light, soft, not strong, close-grained and durable, light 

 yellow brown, with thin lighter colored often nearly white sapwood of 

 usually 25-30 layers of annual growth; occasionally manufactured into 

 lumber used for flooring and cabinet making. 



