Magnolia ^597 



Var. rosea grandiflora was raised from a seed of M. Lennei, and is one of the 

 most beautiful varieties. 



3. Numerous other hybrids are in cultivation, which mainly differ in colour and 

 time of flowering, as var. Alexandrina^ var. Norbertiana, and var. nigra? 



M. conspicua is a native of China, where it has been found wild in the mountain- 

 ous districts of Hupeh and Szechwan. It is cultivated extensively by the Chinese, 

 who call \X. yii-lan ; and it is mentioned in their earliest literature. It is not considered 

 to be a native of Japan, where it was probably introduced from China by the early 

 Buddhist monks. 



It was introduced into England by Sir Joseph Banks in 1789 : and is commonly 

 cultivated for its beautiful flowers, which appear in spring the earliest of all the species, 

 except M. stellata and M. Campbelli. The flowers are liable to be injured by frosts 

 and cold east winds. The finest specimen is probably one * at Gunnersbury House, 

 which was 31 ft. high by 2\ ft. in girth in 191 1. A tree, said* to be over seventy 

 years old, and about 25 ft. high, was growing at Slocock's Nursery at Woking, in 

 1898, and bore flowers described as pure white suffused with purple. A fine specimen 

 at La Fantaisie, Jersey, is figured in Gard. Chron. xxxvi. 59, fig. 25 (1904). One 

 trained against the wall of Hornby Grange, Northallerton, and 30 ft. high, was 

 reported^ to have borne 2000 flowers in 1896. (A. H.) 



MAGNOLIA DENUDATA 



Magnolia denudata^ Lamarck, Encycl. iii. 675 (1789); Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 330 (1905). 

 Magnolia obovata, Thunberg, in Trans. Linn. Soc. ii. 336 (1794) (Excl. Icon. Kaempf. t. 43). 

 Magnolia purpurea, Curtis, Bot. Mag. t. 390 (1797) ; Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 282 (1838). 

 Magnolia discolor, Ventenat, yari/. Malm. t. 24 (1803). 



A deciduous shrub, rarely exceeding 10 ft. in height. Young branchlets 

 glabrous except near the tip, where they are covered with silvery appressed 

 pubescences. Leaves membranous, about 4 to 5 in. long and 2 to 3 in. 

 broad, obovate, or oval and broadest at the middle, acute or shortly acuminate at the 

 apex, tapering at the base ; upper surface dark green, with scattered appressed hairs, 

 denser on the midrib and nerves ; lower surface pale green, glaucescent, with similar 

 pubescence, confined mainly to the midrib and nerves ; punctate with minute trans- 

 lucent dots ; margined with scattered cilia ; lateral nerves eight to ten pairs ; petiole 

 with appressed pubescence. 



Flowers, appearing before the leaves, without scent, campanulate ; sepals small, 

 ovate-lanceolate, greenish yellow, spreading, and slightly reflexed ; petals six, purple 

 outside, white inside, about 3^ in. long, broad, ovate, obtuse, slightly fleshy. 

 Fruit brownish. 



1 Cf. Loudon, Gard. Mag. xix. 269 (1843), where this variety is said to flower later than M. conspicua, and earlier than 

 M. Soulangiana. 



* According to Hortus Veitckii, 370 (1906), var. nigra was introduced from Japan by J. Gould Veitch. Cf. Nicholson, 

 in The Garden, xxv. 276, fig. 434 (1884). It has dark plum-coloured flowers. 



s Figured in Gard. Chron. ix. S9Ii fig- S (1891). * Gard. Chron, xxiii. 262 (1898). 



6 Ibid. xix. 494 (1896). ^ This is the oldest name, and Lamarck's description is satisfactory. 



