CHAPTER II. 



I. Simple Alternate Iieaves. 



1. Without teeth. A. Edge undivided. 



THE MAGNOLIAS, ETC. 



The simplest possible leaf which grows on a tree 

 — I ought rather to say, which helps to huild one — 

 we will find on the Southern magnolia. This tree, 

 which leads all others in botanical classification, puts 

 forth a leaf of the plainest design we can discover in 

 l^ature — a leaf of an elliptical figure with pointed 

 ends, plain as the plainest New England farmhouse 

 without cornice, dormer, or column, and quite as re- 

 freshingly simple. 



The magnolias are distinctly Southern trees, with 

 dark, shining, evergreen leaves, which are more or 

 less out of tune with a Northern environment. Just 

 as the sober olive has its perfect setting in the bril- 

 liant light and color of Italy and Syria, so the deep- 

 hued magnolia finds its most congenial surroundings 

 in the sunny South ; and no doubt Nature is aware 



of this fact, for she does not allow the trees to ex- 



20 



