CHAPTER IX 

 THE MAGNOLIAS 



THE group it is intended to discuss here is 

 remarkable in having the largest flowers and 

 largest undivided leaves of any group of trees 

 hardy in this climate. The American species all 

 flower after the leaves are developed and are among 

 the handsomest of native trees. There are Asiatic 

 species which blossom after the manner of the 

 American kinds but only three of these are common 

 in gardens. The Asiatic members which produce 

 their blossoms before the leaves unfold are, how- 

 ever, familiar and popular garden plants. Magnolias 

 grow wild in the eastern United States and in eastern 

 Asia from Japan westward to the Sikkim and Bhutan 

 Himalayas, having their northern limit in Hokkaido 

 and their southern in Malacca and Pinang. In all 

 some 34 species and numerous varieties are recognized; 

 but only 1 2 species, several hybrids, and about half-a- 

 dozen varieties have proved hardy as far north as 

 Boston, Mass. The Japanese, with two exceptions 

 (M. salicifolia and M. Watsonii), are hardy here; like- 



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