472 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



UMBRELLA TREE 



Elkwood. 



Magnolia tripetala L. 

 M. Ui)ib)'€Ua Lam. 



HABIT — A small tree with a maximum height of about 40 ft. and a 

 trunk diameter of 1^,2 ft., in New England generally much smaller; 

 trunk erect or inclined with wide-spreading branches w^hich generally 

 bend up at their tips forming a wide spreading irregular open head; 

 at times with several stems springing from near the base of the trunk. 

 forming a bushy growth around the main stem. 



BARK — Light gray, smooth, marked with small excrescences, fre- 

 quently wrinkled and lumpy at the scars of branches. 



TAVIGS — Stout, reddish to greenish-brown, shining, swollen at the 

 base of each year's growth, aromatic. LENTICELS — conspicuous, scat- 

 tered pale dots. PITH — white, with minute pink dots. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, large, conspicuous, 



oval, slightly raised, mainly clustered at swellings along the twig. 

 STIPULE-SCARS — distinct, arising from the side of leaf-scar and en- 

 circling twig. BUNDLE-SCARS — numerous, irregularly scattered, often 

 slightly raised. 



BUDS — Lateral buds at best small, conical, divergent, frequently 

 undeveloped or showing as mere bulges of the bark; terminal buds 

 large up to 5 cm. long, conical, with curved pointed apex, purple, 

 with a bloom, with minute pale dots, smooth with patch of rusty hairs 

 at base of leaf-ridge. BUD-SCALES — valvate and adhering in pairs 

 corresponding to stipules, each pair enclosing in succession an erect 

 folded dow^ny leaf, the stalk of ^vhich is united ^nth the next inner pair 

 of scales; the leaf connected with the outer pair of scales falls off 

 before maturing, leaving a rudimentary scar on the bud with a decur- 

 rent ridge corresponding to its leaf-stalk. 



FRl'IT — Ovate to oblong cone, 6-10 cm. long, made up of numerous 

 follicles which split open in the fall and let out the red flattish seeds 

 which are about 1 cm. In diameter. 



C03IPARISONS — For comparisons with the Tulip Tree see this species. 

 The Umbrella Tree differs from the Cucumber Tree, the Large-leaved 

 Magnolia and the Chinese Magnolia by its smooth buds and from the 

 Sweet Bay by the size and color of its twigs and buds. 



DISTRIBUTION — Not native to New England but extensively culti- 

 vated as an ornamental tree. It grows wild in the Appalachian 

 mountain region from the valley of the Susquehanna river, Pennsyl- 

 vania to southern Alabama. 



AA'OOD — Light, soft, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with 

 creamy white sapwood of 35-40 layers of annual growth. 



