THE MAGNOLIAS 



been derived from the original introduction. Many 

 efforts to re-discover this tree were made but all 

 failed until six years ago when Mr. Louis A. Berck- 

 mans accidentally happened upon it in a dry wood 

 some eighteen miles south of Augusta, Georgia. 



Michaux described it as a tree from 40 to 50 feet 

 tall but the recent discoveries are bushes from 4 to 

 6 feet high. As we know it in cultivation Mich- 

 aux's plant is a medium-sized tree with a shapely, 

 rounded crown, and broadly ovate leaves, more or 

 less heart-shaped at the base, and hairy on the under- 

 side. The cup-shaped, faintly odorous flowers are 

 yellow, about 4 inches across, and have the inner 

 petals frequently marked with reddish lines. It 

 flowers freely about the beginning of June and in 

 wet seasons bears a second crop of flowers in late 

 July and August. 



Most remarkable is the Great-leaf Magnolia 

 (M. macrophylla) which has the largest undivided 

 leaves of any tree hardy in the gardens of the north 

 temperate regions. The leaves are sometimes as 

 much as 3J feet long and from 8 to 9 inches wide and 

 are obovate-oblong, narrowed and heart-shaped at 

 the base, and hairy and white on the underside. The 

 flowers open about the end of June and are from 8 to 

 12 inches across, bowl-shaped, fragrant, white with a 

 purple blotch at the base of the inner petals. It is 



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