THE MAGNOLIAS 



land about 1750 where it flowered the first time on 

 May 24, 1760. 



The first of the American Magnolias to open its 

 flowers each year in Massachusetts is M. Fraseri, the 

 Ear-leaf Umbrella-tree. It is native of the south 

 Appalachian region but is quite hardy in the Arnold 

 Arboretum. A small tree, rarely more than 40 feet 

 tall, it has an open crown of long branches, foot-long 

 leaves, oblong-obovate and spatulate in shape, 

 deeply cleft at base, green above and glaucous 

 below. Its flowers, which are very conspicuous by 

 reason of their standing well above the end of the 

 branches, are creamy white, sweet scented, and from 

 8 to I o inches across ; they open about the end of May. 

 This tree was discovered by W. Bartram as long ago 

 as 1776 and introduced into Europe about 1786 by 

 John Eraser. 



Closely related to the above but smaller in all its 

 parts is M. pyramidata, which grows wild in the ex- 

 treme southwestern corner of Alabama and adjacent 

 Florida and is not hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. 



We have now mentioned all the deciduous Mag- 

 nolias of this country and it remains to say a few 

 words about the Bay Laurel or Bull Bay (M. grandi- 

 flora), the noblest evergreen, broad-leaf tree of 

 the Northern Hemisphere. It is native of the warm 

 Southern states and unfortunately cannot be grown 



141 



