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which flushes around the cup like a rainbow over a 

 sky of pearl. See the ten little stamens with their 

 heads all tucked away in little pockets, curved back, 

 like miniature catapults, waiting the touch of the golden 

 bee to set them off, with a shower of pollen from their 

 flying anthers. Touch them with but the tip of your 

 pencil, and the trap is sprung. The golden pollen flies, 

 and Nature's end is accomplished. The lovely flowers 

 are succeeded by a woody pod or capsule. The capsule 

 is five-celled and contains many oblong seeds. 



Magnolia acuminata. (Cucumber Tree. Mountain 

 Magnolia. No. 6i.) Not far from the Corylopsis, in 

 the northeasterly part of the Ramble, you will find sev- 

 eral stalwart specimens of this magnolia. They stand 

 rather close together, with well-developed trunks of 

 dark, brownish gray, and a look, in the upperparts, of 

 lightish gray, that reminds you of the abele tree or 

 white poplar. The leaves are thin and entire (not ser- 

 rated), are pointed at top and base, often the base is 

 rounded. The margins are generally slightly waved. 

 These leaves are of a bright, light green on the upper- 

 sides, but paler beneath, and, in the autumn, turn to a 

 lovely fawn yellow. They are from five to twelve 

 inches long and about four inches broad. The tree gets 

 its common name from its fruit, which (especially when 

 young) resembles a small cucumber. It is ripe in Sep- 

 tember or October, and if you are passing near at that 

 time you can easily catch its rose-crimson glow con- 

 spicuously showing amid the tree's foliage. This cu- 

 cumber-like pod opens little slits and drops out from 

 them its bright, coral-red seeds, on slender, silky 



