TREES AND SHRUBS. 



223 



small, but deliciously fragrant. L. Standishii is a 

 nearly allied but distinct species. Both do well 

 either against a wall, or treated as bushes in the 

 ordinary shrubbery. L. involucrata, the correct 

 name of the plant frequently met with under the 

 name of L. Ledebourii, is a Californian species, with 

 long glutinous flowers, yellow tinged with red, 

 borne two or three together on axillary stalks. L. 

 Tatarica varies a good deal both in habit and in the 

 size and colour of the flower ; the peduncles are two- 

 flowered, and the flowers vary from almost pure 

 white to a deep rosy tint ; some of the best of the 

 forms make beautiful objects if planted in an open 

 spot in good stiff loamy soil. 



Madura aurantiaca, the only species now 

 retained in the genus Madura, grows to a considerable 

 size in its native country, North America, sometimes 

 attaining a height of fifty or sixty feet, with a trunk 

 two to three feet in diameter. It has a yellow wood, 

 which is very solid, heavy, elastic, and exceedingly 

 durable, and is valuable for constructing railway 

 ties, &c. On account of the branches being armed 

 with stout spines, it is commonly grown in the 

 Western United States — and less frequently in other 

 countries — as a bush for forming hedges. The 

 flowers are inconspicuous, but the large fruit, from 

 three to five inches in diameter, is of a bright golden- 

 yellow. The English name of the tree, " Osage 

 Orange," originated on account of the Orange-like 

 fruits, which, however, are not edible. It is probable 

 that only in the Southern counties of England are 

 fruits ripened, but the tree is hardy enough elsewhere. 

 The plant grown in gardens under the name of 

 Madura tricuspidata, a somewhat recent introduction 

 from China, belongs to a totally different genus, viz., 

 Cudrania, and the proper name of the species is C. 

 triloba ; it is a very interesting deciduous shrub, and 

 of some economic importance in its native country, 

 as it is one of the plants the leaves of which are used 

 by the Chinese for feeding silkworms. Both belong 

 to Urticacece, the great Nettle order, but the first- 

 named genus is in the section Morece, of which 

 Morus (the Mulberry) is a representative, and the 

 latter in Artocarpce, of which Artocarpus — the genus 

 to which the Bread-fruit belongs — is the type. 



The Magnolias. — About two-thirds of the 

 number of species comprised in this splendid genus 

 may fairly claim to be classed as hardy in most 

 parts of Britain ; those which require special care, 

 or peculiar conditions, are not included here. 



M. acuminata (the Cucumber-tree of the Eastern 

 United States) forms, in its native habitats, a large 

 tree sixty to ninety feet high, with a trunk two to 

 four feet in diameter although perhaps this country 



can boast of no specimens so large, there are trees 

 with fine heads about fifty feet in height, with 

 trunks about one and a half feet in diameter, in the 

 South of England. The oblong pointed, green 

 leaves are from five to ten inches long, and the 

 slightly fragrant, bell-shaped flowers are a glaucous- 

 green colour tinged with yellow. The variety 

 aurea is a new form, with golden foliage slightly 

 streaked and mottled with green ; maxima is another 

 with larger leaves, and is supposed to-be a faster 

 grower than the type. 



M. conspicua is one of the most beautiful of all 

 early-flowering shrubs. In the South of England it 

 thrives perfectly well in the open, although in 

 unfavourable seasons the large snowy blossoms are 

 not unfrequently injured by frost in many places. 

 It, however, bears cutting in well, and flowers 

 freely against a wall, where, of course, frost is not 

 so much to be feared. The finest specimen known 

 to the writer is one at Syon House ; this is twenty- 

 five feet high, with a spreading head more than 

 thirty feet through ; when in flower this tree forms 

 a picture not readily forgotten by any lover of a 

 garden. The variety Soulangeana differs from the 

 type in its purple -tinted petals ; it originated many 

 years ago in France, and is supposed to be a natural 

 hybrid between M. conspicua and the Japanese 

 purple-flowered M. obovata. M. conspicua was intro- 

 duced to British gardens hardly a century ago, but 

 it has been cultivated by the Chinese and Japanese 

 from time immemorial. 



M. cordata (the Yellow Cucumber - tree of the 

 Eastern United States) was introduced to Britain 

 at the very commencement of the present century. 

 In the South of England, at any rate, it is quite 

 hardy, and forms a fine tree with green, ovate leaves, 

 more or less heart-shaped at the base, the upper 

 surface being smooth, and the lower tomentose ; the 

 faintly-scented yellow flowers are three or four 

 inches across, the inner petals being frequently 

 marked with reddish lines. In autumn the decaying 

 leaves turn a rich coffee-colour in sunny open spots. 



M. glauca, another species from the Eastern 

 United States, is, in sheltered places, a sub-ever- 

 green. The leaves are leathery in texture, oblong 

 or oval in outline, bluish- green above and silvery 

 below ; the globular flowers, which are produced by 

 old plants, are deliciously fragrant, a rich cream- 

 colour when they first expand, gradually changing 

 to a pale apricot hue. In damp sheltered places it 

 attains a much larger size than in dry open spots ; 

 in its native swamps it grows sometimes to a height 

 of twenty feet. It is the Laurel Magnolia, or Sweet 

 Bay of American writers. 



31. grandiflora, a native of the Southern United 

 States, is a stately evergreen tree in favoured places 



