Trees That Are Loved for Their Flowers—By P. J. Berckmans, cos 
THE FOURTH ARTICLE IN A SERIES OF MEMOIRS BY THE DEAN OF AMERICAN POMOLOGY AND OF SOUTHERN FLORI- 
CULTURE IN WHICH HE TELLS OF HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN. THE INTRODUCTION OF MANY NEW PLANTS 
[Eprror’s Nore—These articles have aroused enthusiastic admiration in all parts of the country. 
The first on “The Best Hedge Plants South and North,” appeared in 
November, 1907- In January and March, 1908, Mr. Berckmans gave wonderfully lucid accounts of the pine, spruce, fir, yew, cedar, cypress, arborvitae and araucaria types. 
In the next contribution the present article will be completed by a discussion of the trees with small, but numerous flowers.] 
T IS most fortunate that nearly all 
the trees with showy flowers are 
small trees, rarely growing more than ten 
or twenty feet high. For, if these flowers were 
borne on tall trees they would seem much 
smaller and we could not easily cut them 
or enjoy their colors, form, and fragrance. 
Moreover, most home grounds are so small 
that they cannot have more than two or 
three large trees with advantage. And 
almost everybody would like to have as 
many as possible of the trees with showy 
flowers. 
The three matters of greatest interest in 
almost every group of flowering plants are 
season of bloom, size of flower and color. 
It is useless to try to understand any large 
group by means of a classification based 
upon color, but I have thus far divided 
the flowering trees according to a new plan 
which I hope will give the casual reader 
a firmer grasp of the subject than he has 
had before. Should he desire to classify 
these trees according to their season of 
bloom he can do so, in a rough manner, as 
the flowering time is indicated in each case. 
I. FLOWERS FOUR TO SIX INCHES ACROSS 
Undoubtedly the showiest features of the 
landscape in April in the North are the 
magnolias where the first large flowering 
tree of the year is Wagnolia Vulan or con- 
spicua. ‘The flowers are four to five inches 
across and with pleasing fragrance. ‘This 
tree seldom exceeds twenty-five to thirty 
The large leaved magnolia (WV. macrophylla) is equally 
conspicuous for its flowers, often a foot across 
feet in height in the United States, whereas 
in Japan and China it frequently grows 
to seventy-five feet. The yulan has been 
used for crossing with the more shrub-like 
purple flowered magnolia (MW. obovata or pur- 
purea), and has produced a race of hardy 
The magnolias have the largest flowers of any trees. 
(MW. Soulangeanad) a hybrid, flowers pink 
hybrids with colored flowers of which the type 
is MJ. Soulangeana. ‘This grows very rapid- 
ly and soon forms a tree twenty-five to thirty 
feet high with flowers four to five inches 
across, white inside and purplish outside. It 
is a most profuse bloomer and the flowers 
last longer than those of the yulan. 
Another beautiful hybrid of the same 
parentage is M. Soulangeana nigra, which, 
although introduced to the trade in 1885, 
seems to be still very little known. The 
flowers are the largest of all of the Asiatic 
class (five to six inches in diameter), of a 
dark-purple color, and are frequently pro- 
duced from April until early autumn, 
although the main crop is at its best during 
April and May. As it begins to bloom late 
the flowers are apt to escape injury by late 
frosts, and is therefore, one of the most 
valuable. 
Other late blooming hybrids are M. Nor- 
bertiana and Lennet, the latter with dark 
crimson flowers. 
After these, but still before the leaves 
appear, comes Magnolia Kobus, which is 
very interesting because it has starry instead 
of cup-shaped flowers. They are white, three 
to four inches in diameter and are not as 
showy and are produced more sparingly 
than the preceding. 
The magnolias that bloom after the 
leaves have even larger flowers but are 
not nearly so popular because the flowers 
are fewer and more or less hidden among 
339 
the leaves. However, they have very beau- 
tiful red fruits of unique character and 
it is quite the fashion to grow a large collec- 
tion of them. 
Our native magnolias are often more desir- 
able for their rapid growth and large leaves 
than for their flowers, especially M. acum- 
mata, commonly known as cucumber tree 
which usually assumes a broad pyramidal 
shape and makes a valuable shade tree, 
though its flowers are an inconspicuous 
yellow. 
The large-leaved magnolia (M. macro- 
phylla) is most conspicuous for its very 
large leaves. In very rich situations these 
are often three feet long and at a distance 
resemble a banana tree. Its huge flowers 
are ten to twelve inches across, white and 
fragrant but are not produced in great 
numbers. 
The eared magnolia (M. Fraseri) is 
recognized by the lobes at the base of 
the leaf. It has sweet-scented, white 
flowers usually eight inches in diameter. 
The umbrella tree (WZ. tripetala) has con- 
spicuous white flowers eight to ten inches 
across, but as they emit a rather unpleasant 
odor this tree has unfortunately been often 
discarded, though it furnishes excellent 
material for landscape planting where trees 
with broad foliage are required. The 
leaves are eighteen to twenty inches long. 
Of the exotic magnolias I like best the 
Japanese M. hypoleuca which has _ the 
under side of the leaves almost silvery 
white. It is said to attain roo feet in Japan. 
I have grown it for many years and do not 
expect it to grow more than thirty or forty 
The tulip tree owes much of its attractiveness to 
the numerous yellowish flowers 
