White and Greenish 



Laurel or Small Magnolia; Sweet or White 

 Bay ; Swamp Laurel or Sassafras ; Beaver- 

 tree 



{Magnolia yirginiana) Magnolia family 



(M. glauca of Gray) 



Flowers — White, 2 to 3 in. across, globular, depressed, deliciously 

 fragrant, solitary at ends of branches. Calyx of 3 petal-like, 

 spreading sepals. Corolla of 6 to 12 concave rounded petals 

 in rows ; stamens very numerous, short, with long anthers; 

 carpels also numerous, and borne on the thick, green, elongated 

 receptacle. Trunk : 4 to 70 ft. high. Leaves : Enfolded in 

 the bud by stipules that fall later and leave rings around gradu- 

 ally lengthening branch; the leaves 3 to 6 in. long in maturity, 

 broadly oblong, thick, almost evergreen, dark above, pale 

 beneath, on short petioles. Fruit : An oblong, reddish pink 

 cone, fleshy, from which the scarlet seeds hang by slender 

 threads. 



Preferred Habitat — Swampy woods and open swamps. 



Flowering Season — May — June. 



Distribution — Atlantic States from Massachusetts southward, and 

 Gulf States from Florida to Texas. 



' ' Every flower its own bo-quet I " shouted by a New York street 

 vender of the lovely magnolia blossoms he had just gathered from 

 the Jersey swamps, emphasized only one of the many claims they 

 have upon popular attention. Far and wide the handsome shrub, 

 which frequently attains a tree's height, is exported from its native 

 hiding-places to adorn men's gardens, and there, where a better 

 opportunity to know it at all seasons is granted, one cannot tell 

 which to admire most, the dark, bluish-green leathery leaves, sil- 

 very beneath ; the cream-white, deliciously fragrant blossoms that 

 turn pale apricot with age ; or the brilliant fruiting cone with the 

 scarlet seeds a-dangling. At all seasons it is a delight. When 

 most members of this lovely tribe confine themselves to warm 

 latitudes, we especially prize the species that naturally endures 

 the rigorous climate of the " stern New England coast." 



Beavers (when they used to be common in the East) so often 

 made use of the laurel magnolia, not only of the roots for food, but 

 of the trunk, whose bitter bark, white sap-wood, and soft, reddish- 

 brown heart-wood were gnawed in constructing their huts, that 

 in some sections it is still known as the beaver-tree. Accord- 

 ing to Delpino, the conspicuous, pollen-laden magnolia flowers, 

 with their easily accessible nectar, attract beetles chiefly. These 

 winged messengers, entering the heart of a newly opened blossom, 



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