lilAaNOLIA OF ECOlSrOMIC PLANTS. 255 



wMcli yield the important red dye called Madder. An allied 

 species (iJ, cordifolia) fnrnislies tlie Madder of India called 

 Munjeet, and sMp-loads are imported into this country. The 

 cultivation of Madder and Munjeet is now threatened with total 

 extinction, in consequence of the general use of the coal tar or 

 aniline dyes. 



Madia Oil {Madia sativa), a clammy annual of the Com- 

 posite family (CompositaB), native of Chili, and cultivated in 

 many parts of America for the sake of its seeds, which after 

 the oil is expressed are made into oil-cake for feeding cattle. 



Madroma, a name in California for a beautiful tree {ArlutuB 

 Menziesii) of the Heath family (Ericace^), native of the western 

 coast of Mexico and California. It bears a large edible berry, 

 and is much sought after by Mexicans and Indians. Its wood 

 is very hard, and is used for making the wooden stirrups of the 

 Indians. 



Magnolia, the name of a genus of conspicuous trees and 

 shrubs, the type of the family Magnoliacese, natives of ISTorth 

 America, China, and Japan. Their flowers and bark have an 

 aromatic princii)le, but they possess no special medicinal pro- 

 perties. Their large sweet-scented flowers and large green 

 leaves give them rank as ornamental trees in the gardens and 

 shrubberies of this country. Those native of ITorth America 

 are hardy, of which the following are the principal : — 1. 

 Magnolia grandijlora, one of the most conspicuous of trees, 

 sometimes attaining a height of 80 feet or more. It is an 

 evergreen, and has firm, elliptical leaves, from 8 to 10 inches 

 long, smooth and shining on the upper surface, and of a rusty 

 brown on the under. The flowers are of a yellowish-white 

 colour, and stand upright, in the form of a cup 6 to 8 inches in 

 diameter. They are highly fragrant, and are the largest flowers 

 ol any trees growing in the open air in^this country. There are 

 several varieties, some of which are not so hardy as others. 

 One tree at Kew, more than a hundred years old, for many 

 years growing against a waU, but now for more than thirty years 

 standing fully exposed, has attained the height of 23 feet, and a 



