MAGNOLIA, 



17 



xvi., tab. 1693 ; Revue Horticole, 1866, p. 370 ; 

 " The Garden" Vol. IX., p. 548, coloured plate. 



The Purple-flowered Magnolia (M. obo- 

 vata). — A considerable number of seedling varieties 

 of this wonderfully pretty shrub are in southern 

 gardens, and few plants are more worthy of cultiva- 

 tion. In the northern counties they require, in most 

 localities, the protection of a wall. All the forms 

 I have seen differ from the more generally known 

 M. conspicua in their smaller size, in the different 

 form and texture of their leaves, and also in the 

 position, &c, of the petals, the flowers of the last- 

 named species opening more widely than those of 

 M. obovata. The colours, too, are different, purple 

 and its shades being the predominant tints in M. 

 obovata, whilst white in M. conspicua, or white 

 flushed with red or pink, generally obtains in con- 

 spicua hybrids. The shoots when cut open have 

 a peculiar camphor-like odour. — Thunb. in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, ii., 336 (excl. icon. K<empf., t. 43). M. 

 gracilis, Salisbury, " Paradisus Londinensis," t. 87 ; 

 Koch, " Dendrologie," erst. Theil,p. 379. M. glauca, 

 var. B., Thunb., " Flora Japonica," 237. Buergeria 

 obovata, Sieb. and Zucc, Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat., i., 187. 

 Talauma Sieboldi et Magnolia obovata, Miquel, Prolus., 

 145. M. purpurea, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit., i., 35. 

 M. purpurea, Koch, " Dendrologie," erst. Theil, 377 

 (in part). 



Var. discolor is a form with larger flowers 

 than the type. — Vent. Jardin de Malmaison, t. 24 ; 

 M. purpurea, "Botanical Magazine," tab. 390. 



M. rustica rubra. — The coloured plate of 

 this plant published herewith renders any pro- 

 longed description unnecessary. Mr.Wezelenburg, 

 of the Hazerswoude Nurseries, near Leyden, writes 

 as follows respecting it : " We can say nothing for 

 certain about the origin of this Magnolia. About 

 ten years ago we found this variety in the nursery 

 of a friend in Boskoop, when we bought it. This 

 gentleman grew it without a name, and, in confer- 

 ence with him, we named it { rustica flore rubra.' 

 He told us that he found it amongst seedlings, but 

 did not know the origin of these seedlings. He 

 supposed it a seedling from M. Lennei" In any 

 case, it is the handsomest of all the forms which 

 have been derived from M. conspicua and M. obovata. 



M. salicifolia. — As far as foliage is concerned 

 this is a very distinct plant ; the rather long-stalked, 

 narrow flowers, tapering to both ends, are as yet 

 unknown to European gardeners. A native of the 

 mountains of Nippon. Professor Sargent found this 

 species on Mount Hakkoda at elevations of from 

 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea-level. He describes 

 it as a slender tree 1 5 to 20 feet in height, with stems 

 3 to 4 inches in thickness. Like all the rest of Mag- 

 nolias, it is a moisture-loving species. Professor 

 Sargent succeeded in introducing the tree to the 



Arnold Arboretum, and is now here and there in 

 cultivation in this country. — Maximowicz," Melanges 

 Biologiques," tome viii., p. 509 ; Buergeria salicifolia, 

 Sieb. and Zucc, Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat., 348; Shirasawa, 

 " Iconographie des Essences Forestieres du Japon" p. 72, 

 /. 40. 



M. Soulangeana. — This originated near 

 Paris, and is a hybrid between M. conspicua and 

 M. obovata. It has the large flowers of the former 

 and the purple-tinted petals of the latter species. 

 There is a tree at Syon 15 feet in height, with a 

 spread of 13 feet. Scarcely different from this are 

 M. Tulan grandis (Rinz in Regel's " Gartenflora," 

 v., tab. 166), and also the plants which bear in gar- 

 dens the names of M. speciosa, M. cyathiformis, 

 M. superba, M. Alexandrina, M. speciosa, M. spec- 

 tab His, and M. triumphans. In Garden and Forest, 

 1889, 298, a remarkably fine specimen of this hybrid 

 Magnolia is described, probably the finest example 

 in the United States, the stem below the branches 

 measuring nearly 8 feet in circumference : it is in a 

 garden at Hampton, near Baltimore. — Ann.Soc.Hort. 

 Par., i., 99 ; "Botanical Register," 1 1 64 ; Sweet, "Flower 

 Garden," 260 ; Rege I," Gartenflora," v., 255, tab. 168. 



M. stellata. — Few hardy plants introduced 

 of late years to British gardens can vie with this 

 charming shrub in interest or beauty. It was first 

 exhibited in England about 1 878 by Messrs. Veitch, 

 who obtained a first class certificate for it. The 

 plant flowers very freely in a young and small 

 state, and makes an excellent subject for cool con- 

 servatory decoration; it is, however, perfectly hardy. 

 The beautiful scented blossoms measure about four 

 inches across, and the narrow petals are white with 

 an external stripe of pale pink. Like most other 

 horticultural introductions from Japan, this is culti- 

 vated by the natives, and it was observed more 

 than twenty years ago in gardens at Nagasaki by 

 Oldham. According to Franchet and Savatier, it is 

 wild in the woods of Mount Fusi Yama and in 

 Central Niphon, where it forms a small tree. The 

 name M. Halleana, given to the species by Mr. 

 S. B. Parsons, of Flushing, U.S., was intended to 

 commemorate the services to the horticultural world 

 of Dr. G. R. Hall, who sent from Japan to the 

 Flushing Nursery a host of interesting and valuable 

 plants. As, however, this beautiful Magnolia had 

 been previously described under the head of M. stel- 

 lata, this latter will have to be kept up. — Maximowicz 

 in Bulletin Acad. Petersb.; "Melanges Biologiques" 

 decasx\.,p. 509 ; "Botanical Magazine," tab. 6370 ; 

 " Revue Horticole," 1878, 270; Regel, "Gartenflora," 

 i88o,/>. 407. M. Halleana, " Garden," Vol. XIII., 

 p. 572 {coloured plate). Talauma stellata, Miquel, 

 Prolus. Flor. Japon.,p. 145 ; Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bot., 

 p. 257. Buergeria stellata, Sieb. and Zucc,, FL Jap, 

 Fam. Nat., p. 78, tab. ua. 



