THE MAGNOLIAS 



leaves and sweetly fragrant, nodding, egg-shaped 

 flowers. It was introduced into England as long ago 

 as 1 786 by Lady Amelia Hume who had a garden at 

 Wormley Bury in Hertfordshire, where she culti- 

 vated with success many rare and beautiful plants. 



Of the evergreen Asiatic Magnolias only one species 

 calls for mention here. That is M. Delavayi which has 

 pointed, leathery leaves, dull green above and pale 

 below, and in size larger than those of any other ever- 

 green that can be grown in cool-temperate lands. It 

 should be an excellent tree for the Pacific seaboard 

 and for the South. The flowers are fragrant, white, 

 cup-shaped, from 6 to 8 inches across, and are followed 

 by large, red, cone-like fruits. A native of Yunnan, 

 southwest China, it is a broad, much-branched tree 

 fully 50 feet tall. I had the pleasure of introducing 

 this Magnolia to English gardens by means of seeds 

 sent in the late autumn of 1899. Plants raised from 

 them flowered for the first time in Kew Gardens in 

 1908. 



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