108 TREES 



The wood of the cucumber tree is light, close-textured, 

 weak, and pale brown in color. It has only local use in 

 cabinet-making and for flooring. The tree is far more val- 

 uable in horticulture. It is a splendid stock on which to 

 graft less hardy magnolias. It is a superb avenue and 

 shade tree for Northern cities, and in this capacity it is as 

 yet httle known. It grows vigorously from seed, and 

 stands transplanting, if care is used that the brittle roots 

 are not mutilated nor dried. 



The Umbrella Tree 



M, tripetala, Linn. 



The umbrella tree has an umbrella-like whorl of leaves 

 surrounding the flower whose white cup stands above 

 three recurving white sepals. The whole tree .suggests an 

 umbrella, so closely thatched is its dome of thin, bright 

 green leaves. 



The stout contorted branches and twigs lack sjonmetry, 

 from the forking habit. Side twigs strike out at right 

 angles from an erect branch, then turn up into a position 

 parallel with the parent branch, and bear terminal flowers, 

 which induce another branching system the following year. 

 Despite its angularity this is the trimmest and one of the 

 handsomest of our native magnolias, and it has the merit 

 of hardiness even in New England, where it attains large 

 size. Its native range extends from Pennsylvania near the 

 coast, along the Atlantic seaboard, and westward to 

 southern Alabama and Arkansas. It loves swamp borders 

 and the banks of mountain streams, but behaves well in the 

 moderately rich soil of parks and gardens. 



