168 ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA 



Magnolia macrophylla, Mx. (Largk-Leaved) Cucumbkr Tree;. 

 (Map ir, Fig. 46) 



A small or medium-sized tree, with the largest leaves of any 

 North American tree outside of the palms. They are rather thin, 

 white heneath. and sometimes over a foot wide and nearly a yard 

 long. When they fall to the ground they usually land upside 

 down, and their white under surfaces are then conspicuous in the 

 autumn woods. (See Monograph 8, fig. 10.) Dr. Mohr gives its 

 maximum diameter as 30 inches (in the "upper division of the 

 coast pine belt", ]iresumably in the western division of the south- 

 ern red hills), but the largest trees I have seen are about 11 inches 

 by 60 feet, and 14 inches by 30 feet, in region 2 B, both in Tus- 

 caloosa County. On the average it is probably not more than 

 three or four inches in diameter and ten feet tall. The flowers 

 are about the same size as those of M. graiidiflora, and appear 

 mostly in May. When unfolding they are vase-shaped, or con- 

 stricted a little above the middle. 



This is too rare and usually too small to be used for any- 

 thing but ornamental purposes. It is often cultivated in the North, 

 and is sold l)y nurserymen at a much higher price than any other 

 native Magnolia. It does not seem to take so readily to cultivation 

 as some of the others. 



There is probal)ly more of this striking little tree in Alabama 

 than in all the rest of the world. Its distribution within the state 

 is very irregular (see map), and hard to explain on a basis of 

 environmental factors. It grows mostly in ravines and on bluffs, 

 where there is plenty of humus and adequate ])rotection from 

 fire. In the regions where it is most abundant, as in Tuscaloosa 

 County, it sometimes springs up in clearings almost like a weed. 



2A. Franklin, Marion, Lawrence, Winston and Cullman Counties. In 

 Cullman County it seems to be chiefly confined to rocky gorges of Flint 

 Creek and its tributaries, north of Vinemont, but I have seen a leaf in the 

 southwestern part of the county, near Bremen, said to have come from 

 woods near by. It is quite common in southern Lawrence County. 



2B. Fayette, Walker and Tuscaloosa Counties. Common in the last, 

 but never observed in Jefferson, though it occurs on the other side of it in 

 Blount. 



3. Near Roden, Blount County. 



4. Ravine on Coldwater Mountain, Calhoun County. 



5. Clay, Coosa, Chilton, and perhaps Chambers County. 



