T 54 



MAGNOLIAS IN NORTH 

 AMERICA. 



The most complete account of the Magno- 

 lias, as regards kinds, was that in the first 

 number of Flora by Mr. Nicholson ; but as 

 several of the Magnolias come from North 

 America, where the climate, soil, and other 

 conditions suit them so well, it may interest 

 lovers of the family to hear something about 

 the kinds native to that country, and described 

 by Miss Rogers in "American Country Life" 

 for April : — 



" Only two Magnolias grow wild in the 

 north. They are the Sweet Bay and the Cu- 

 cumber Tree, the former a white - flowered 

 shrub that grows in swamps, the latter a tall 

 tree with small greenish flowers. Both of them 

 bloom in May or June, after the leaves open. 



" The Sweet Bay [Magnolia glaucd) is in 

 the north a deciduous shrub, rarely more than 

 i 5 feet high ; in the south it is an evergreen 

 tree, which in central Florida is seen 80 feet 

 high. Its flowers are small for a Magnolia — 

 only 2 or 3 inches across — but delightfully fra- 

 grant, and so always eagerly bought of street 

 vendors in the cities near which they grow. 

 M. glauca is also called White Bay, Swamp 

 Bay, and Beaver Tree. The northernmost 

 place in the world where it grows wild is a 

 swamp near Gloucester, Massachusetts. 



" The CucumbevTree (Magnolia acuminata) 

 is a shade and avenue tree, but its flowers are 

 the smallest and least conspicuous of all the 

 Magnolias. They are only an inch or two in 

 diameter, and being greenish-yellow, are lost 

 among the large leaves. The tree is hardy in 

 New England and grows scattered through 

 the forests west to the Mississippi River. Its 

 fine pyramidal form, quick growth, and its 

 clean, luxuriant foliage are its chief merits. In 

 summer the ' Cucumbers ' stand erect, 3 or 

 4 inches in length, and flushing a rosy pink 

 make a pretty contrast with the green around 

 them. 



"The Large-leaved Cucumber Tree (Mag- 

 nolia macrophylld) has the largest leaves of all 

 the Magnolias — they are often more than 3 feet 

 long. But only in sheltered places can they 

 escape being torn by the wind, and they are 

 useless for decorative purposes, for they fall 

 on the approach of winter. They are remark- 



ably thin as compared with the evergreen 

 kinds. This species excels all the rest in the 

 size of its flowers. These are often 10 and 

 1 2 inches across, and can be readily told from 

 the other tender species by the purple spot at 

 the base of each of the inner row of petals. 

 The tree often reaches the height of 50 feet, 

 and has been planted as an ornamental and a 

 curiosity as far north as Boston, where there 

 is a specimen 20 feet high. The other Mag- 

 nolias native to the Southern States have pure 

 white flowers, except Magnolia cordata, the 

 Yellow Cucumber Tree, which has bright 

 canary-coloured ones. It has been described as 

 a variety of M. acuminata by some botanists. 



" The XJmbreMaTTee (Magnolia tripetala) is 

 anotherlarge-leaved deciduous southern Mag- 

 nolia, but it can readily be told from thespecies 

 macrophylla by the fact that the flowers are 

 pure white, and the three petal-like sepals turn 

 back — an exception, in fact, to all rules in the 

 Magnolia family. The leaves are smaller by 

 half, and the flowers by 2 or 3 inches; the 

 latter have a disagreeable odour. The name — 

 Umbrella Tree — comes from the arrangement 

 of the leaves in whorls around the ends of the 

 branches, each whorl forming a small umbrella. 

 The tree often attains a height of 40 feet. It 

 is often seen in gardens in the middle and 

 southern States, and grows wild from Penn- 

 sylvania south to Alabama. 



"The Ear-leaved Magnolia (M. Fraseri), 

 also called the Mountain Magnolia, resembles 

 the Umbrella Tree in its stature and its flowers, 

 but it is readily distinguished from all other 

 Magnolias by the fact that its ample leaves 

 are prolonged into two ear-like lobes at the 

 base of each. This is the most tender of the 

 native species. 



"The Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiJlord)\% the 

 species that furnishes the splendid evergreen 

 foliage that is shipped north for Christmas 

 decoration; and is used for similar purposes in 

 the South. The upper surface of each leaf is 

 a dark, lustrous green ; the lining is of a rusty- 

 red fuzz, which is shed when the leaf is old. 

 There is but one other native evergreen species, 

 and that is the Sweet Bay already described, 

 which has much smaller leaves and flowers. 



" The blossoms of the Bull Bay are long 

 waxen cups of creamy white, from 7 to 8 inches 

 across as a rule. There is a variety of it called 



