Magnolia. MAGNOLIACE^. 27 



Order IL MAGNOLTACE/E. Juss. The Magnolia Tribe. 



Calyx of 3 - 6 deciduous sepals, somewhat petaloid. Petals 3 to many, usually 

 in several rows. Stamens numerous ; filaments short ; anthers long, adnate 

 and introrse. Ovaries several in a single row, or numerous and spicate on a 

 prolonged receptacle or axis : styles short or none ; stigmas simple. Carpels 

 numerous, 1 - 2-seeded, aggregated or connate, and forming a strobile or cone- 

 like fruit. Seeds anatropous, suspended or ascending, often with a pulpy 

 exterior covering. Embryo minute, at the base of fleshy albumen. — Trees or 

 shrubs, with large, alternate, usually coriaceous leaves, which arc commonly 

 punctate with minute dots : stipules membranaceous, convolute or applied face 

 to face, caducous. 



1. MAGNOLIA. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 4:737. MAGNOLIA. 



[Named in honor of Prof. Magnol, a French botanist.] 



Sepals 3, caducous, sometimes none, or confounded with the petals. Petals 6 - 12, caducous. 

 Carpels 1 - 2-seeded, persistent, forming a strobile-like fruit, dehiscent by the dorsal suture. 

 Seeds baccate, cordate when ripe, and tlie carpel opens suspended by a long funiculus 

 composed entirely of spiral vessels. — Trees (rarely only large shrubs). Flowers solitary 

 and showy, mostly fragrant. 



1. JNIagnolia glauca, Linn. Common Magnolia. Sioeet Bay. Brewster. 



Leaves oblong or oval, white beneath ; petals 9-12, ovate, narrowed at the base, erect. — 

 Michx. Jl. I. p. 327 ; Michx. f. sylv. 1. p. 274. t. 52 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 37 ; Bigel. ft. Bost. p. 

 229, and med. hot. t. 26; Darlingt.fl. Cest. p. 325 ; Torr. 4- Gr.Jl. N. Am. I. p. 42. 



A shrub or small tree, from 8 to 30 feet high, with a smooth whitish bark. Leaves 3-5 

 inches long and 1-2 inches wide, rather acute, or obtuse, bright shining green above, very 

 glaucous beneath, silky when young, deciduous. Flowers terminal, 2-3 inches in diameter, 

 on thick peduncles of about an inch in length, very fragrant. Sepals oblong, concave. 

 Petals white, as long as the sepals. Carpels in a head 1 - I5 inch long, ovate, opening lon- 

 gitudinally, 1-seeded. Seeds as large as small peas, bright red, suspended for some time on 

 a long thread-like funiculus. 



Cedar swamps {Cupressus thuyoides). Long Island: not found elsewhere in the State. 

 May - June. Fr. September. 



The bark of this plant is a stimulating aromatic tonic and diaphoretic. Wood <^ Bache's 

 U. S. Dispens. 



4* 



