222 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
MAGNOLIAS 
With the possible exception of the flowering dogwood 
there is no more beautiful tree native to this country 
than the flowering magnolias. In addition some of them 
furnish excellent lumber. 
SWEET BAY 
Magnoha glauca 
Bark 
Branchlets bright green at first, turn- 
ing reddish brown to gray the second 
summer. Bark on mature trees 
thin and gray. 
LEAVES 
Oblong, 4’-6” in length, bright lus- 
trous greeh. In the South they re- 
main with little change until the fol- 
lowing spring. 
FRouir 
A fleshy cone, 2” long, dark red in 
color. 
RaNGE 
Massachusetts south to Florida, west 
Texas. 
Flowers large (two inches to three inches), conspicu- 
ous, continue to open for several weeks in the spring. 
There are in all seven magnolias in the United States of 
which the cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata) and the 
sweet magnolia of the Southern melodies (Magnolia 
fetida) are the most important. 
