42 MAGNOLIA FAMILT. 



* * * Shrubby : fl. in spring and early summer. 



P. Motltan, TREE P;EONY, of China. Stems 2-3 high; leaves pale 

 and glaucous, ample ; flowers very large (6' or more across), white with purple 

 base, or rose-color, single or double ; the disk, which in other species is a mere 

 ring, in this forms a thin-fleshy sac or covering, enclosing the 5 or more ovaries, 

 but bursting, and falling away as the pods grow. 



2. MAGNOLIACE^I, MAGNOLIA FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with aromatic bitter bark, simple mostly entire 

 alternate leaves, and solitary flowers ; the sepals and petals on the 

 receptacle and usually in threes, but together occupying more than 

 two ranks, and imbricated in the bud ; pistils and mostly the sta- 

 mens numerous, the latter with adnate anthers (Lessons, p. 113, fig. 

 233) ; and seeds only 1 or 2 in each carpel ; the embryo small in 

 albumen. 



I. Stipules to the leaves forming the bud-scales, and falling early. 

 Flowers perfect, large. Stamens and pistils many on a long recep- 

 tacle or axis, the carpels imbricated over each other and cohering 

 into a mass, forming a sort of cone in fruit. These are the charac- 

 ters of the true Magnolia Family, of which we have two genera. 



1. LIRIODENDRON. Sepals 3, reflexed. Corolla bell-shaped, of 6 broad green- 



ish-orange petals. Stamens almost equalling the petals, with slender fila- 

 ments, and long anthers opening outwards. Carpels thin and scale-form, 

 closely packed over each other, dry in fruit, and after ripening separating 

 . and falling away from the slender axis ; the wing-like portion answering to 

 style; the small seed-bearing cell at the base and indehiscent. Leaf-buds 

 flat : stipules free from the petiole. 



2. MAGNOLIA. Sepals 3. Petals 6 or 9. Stamens short, with hardly any fil- 



aments : anthers opening inwards. Carpels becoming fleshy in fruit and 

 forming a red or rose-colored cone, each when ripe (in autumn) splitting 

 down the back and discharging 1 or 2 coral-red berry-like seeds, which hang 

 on extensile cobwebby threads. Stipules united with the base of the petiole, 

 falling as the leaves unfold. 



II. Stipules none. Here are two Southern plants which have 

 been made the representatives of as many small orders. 



3. ILLICIUM. Flowers perfect. Petals 9 -30. Stamens many, separate. Pis 



tils several in one row, forming a ring of almost woody little pods. 



4. SCHIZANDRA. Flowers monoecious. Petals mostly 6. Stamens 5, united 



into a disk or button-shaped body, which bears 10 anthers on the edges of 

 the 5 lobes. Pistils many in a head, which lengthens into a spike of scattered 

 red berries. 



1. LIRIODENDRON, TULIP-TREE (which is the meaning of tht 

 botanical name in Greek). Only one species, 



L. Tulipifera. A tall, very handsome tree, in rich soil, commonest W., 

 where it, or the light and soft lumber (much used in cabinet-work), is called 

 WHITE-WOOD, and even POPLAK ; planted for ornament; fl. late in spring, 

 yellow with greenish and orange. Leaves with 2 short side-lobes, and the end 

 as if cut off. 



2. MAGNOLIA. (Named for the botanist Magnd.) Some species are 

 called UMBRELLA-TREES, from the way the leaves are placed on the end of 

 the shoots ; others, CUCUMBER-TREES, from the appearance of the young fruit. 



# Native trees of this country, often planted for ornament. 



M. grandiflbra, GREAT-FLOWERED MAGNOLIA of S., half-hardy in the 

 Middle States. The only perfectly evergreen species ; splendid tree with 



