MAGNOLIA FAMILY 



are long, angled, and so poised that the leaves flutter inde- 

 pendently, and their glossy surfaces so catch and toss the 

 light that the effect of the foliage as a whole is much brighter 

 than it otherwise would be. 



The flowers are large, brilliant, and on detached trees nu- 

 merous. Their color is greenish yellow with dashes of red 

 and orange, and their resemblance to a 

 tulip very marked. They do not droop 

 from the spray but sit erect. 



The fruit is a cone two to three inches 

 long, made of a great number of thin nar- 

 row scales attached to a common axis. 

 These scales are each a carpel surrounded 

 by a thin membranous ring. Each cone 

 contains sixty or seventy of these scales, 

 of which only a few are productive. Lou- 

 don says that seeds from the highest 

 branches of old trees are most likely to 

 germinate. These fruit cones remain on 

 the tree in varied states of dilapidation 

 throughout the winter. 

 The Tulip is never abundant in the sense that oaks and 

 beeches and ashes are abundant, because it delights only in 

 deep, loamy, and extremely fertile soils, such as the bottom- 

 lands of rivers and borders of swamps. Its finest develop- 

 ment is in the valleys of the rivers flowing into the Ohio. It 

 is recommended as a shade-tree, especially for the cities 

 where bituminous coal is burned. 



The wood of the Tulip is known in the arts as the poplar 

 and the whitewood. Mechanics \vho use it have divided it 

 into the white and yellow poplar, judging from the color and 

 texture of the wood. There seem to be no botanic distinc- 

 tions sufficiently constant upon which to base a variety, and 

 the difference is believed to depend ur^on the character of 

 the soil. 



The tree grows readily from seeds, which should be sown 

 in a fine soft mould, and in a cool and shady situation. If 



i8 



Fruit Cone of Tulip- 

 tree. 



