THE BIG LAUREL. 



451 



A specimen was introduced into the Royal 

 gardens at Kew, about sixty years ago. It thrives 

 in loam and peat, and ripe cuttings root freely 

 in sand under a hand-glass; hut from the warmth 

 of the climate of wliich it is a native, it can 

 never become a forest tree in tliis country. 



Magnolia. Natural family, magnoliacecB ; 

 polyandria, polygynia, of Linnpeus. The trees 

 and shrubs which compose this family are, with- 

 out exception, natives of Asia and America, 

 where they are found nearly in the same lati- 

 tude, being included within the 28th and 42d 

 parallels. All the magnolias have beautiful fo- 

 liage, and most of them large and splendid flowers. 

 The species which are indigenous to North Ame- 

 rica, and particularly those which grow in the 

 southern part of the United States, are in these 

 respects the most remarkable; hence for more 

 than half a century they have been highly 

 esteemed in Europe as ornamental plants. In 

 the climates of London and Paris, several of the 

 Asiatic, and even of the American species, require 

 shelter in winter to secure them from the frosts. 

 Of thirteen species of this family, five belong to 

 China and Japan. Of these, the magnolia yalan 

 is the largest. It attains the height of forty to 

 fifty feet ; and its flowers, which are nearly six 

 inches in diameter, diffuse a delicious odour. It 

 has been cultivated for several centuries, and 

 serves particularly for the embellishment of the 

 emperor of China's garden. In Chinese poetry 

 it figures as a symbol of beauty and candour. 

 Of the eight remaining species one belongs to the 

 West Indies, and seven to the United States. 



The Bio L aukel (magnolia grandiflora) . Of 

 all the trees of North America this is the most 



The Big Laurel 

 remaricable for the majesty of its form, the mag- 

 nificence of its foliage, and the beauty of its 

 flowers. It is first seen in tlae lower part of 

 North Carolina ; proceeding from tliis point, it 

 is found in the maritime parts of the southern 

 states of the Floridas, and as far up as 300 miles 

 above New Orleans, 



Its ordinary stature is from sixty to seventy 

 feet, althougli it sometimes grows as high as 

 ninety. Its trunk is commonly straight, and its 

 summit nearly in the shape of a regular pyra- 

 mid. Its leaves are entire, oval, sometimes acu- 

 minate and sometimes obtuse at the summit, six 

 to eight inches long, and borne by short petioles. 

 They are evergreen, thick, coriaceous, and very 

 brilliant on the upper surface. On trees which, 

 for their beauty, have been left standing here 

 and there in clearing the land, the foliage, upon 

 being exposed to the sun, assumes a rusty ferni- 

 ginous colour beneath. The flowers are white, 

 from seven to eight inches in diameter, of an 

 agreeable odour, and, on detached trees, they are 

 very numerous. Blooming in the midst of rich 

 foliage, they produce so fine an effect, says Mi- 

 chaux, that those who have seen the tree in its 

 native soil agree in considering it as one of tlie 

 most beautiful productions of the vegetable king- 

 dom. The fruit is a fleshy oval cone, about 

 four inches in length. It is composed of a great 

 number of cells, which, at the age of maturity, 

 open longitudinally, showing two or three seeds 

 of a vivid red. The seeds soon after quit the 

 cells, and for some days remain suspended with- 

 out, each by a white filament attached to the 

 bottom of its cell. The red pulpy substance 

 which surrounds the stone decays and leaves it 

 naked. The stone contains a white milky kernel. 



In Carolina this tree blossoms in May, and its 

 seeds are ripe about the beginning of October. 

 The trunk is covered with a smooth grayish 

 bark, resembling that of the beech. The wood 

 is soft, and remarkable for its whiteness, which 

 it preserves even after it is seasoned. 



This tree grows only in cool and shady places, 

 where the soil, composed of brown mould, is loose, 

 deep, and fertile. These tracts lie contiguous to 

 the great swan;ps which are found on the bor- 

 ders of the rivers, and in the midst of the pine 

 barrens, or form themselves a part of these 

 swamps ; but they are never seen in the long 

 and narrow marshes called branch swamps, which 

 traverse the barrens in every direction, and in 

 which the miry soil is shallow, with a bed of 

 white quartz or sand beneath. 



The seeds of the big laurel become rancid less 

 speedily than those of the other magnolias. They 

 may be kept several months before they are 

 sovpn. A single tree sometimes yields 300 or 400 

 cones, each of which contains forty to fifty seeds. 

 The big laurel is deservedly esteemed in 

 Europe by the cultivators of foreign plants. It 

 is valued not only for the magnificence of its 

 foliage and flowers, but also for its power of 

 resisting cold. It is hardier than the orange tree, 

 and in America grows five degrees farther north. 

 Indeed, in some parts of the States, it stands 

 winters which are much more severe than those 

 of Paris or London. 



