202 Description of Varieties of the Magnolia glauca. 



The Magnolia glauca latifolia, or Deciduous Swamp Mag- 

 nolia, of the Hortus Kewensis, is so well known, that it is 

 not necessary to be particular in the description of it, were it 

 not that the other varieties of it will be more readily known 

 by comparison with the following notes relative to it. Its 

 leaves are, in general, about four inches and a half in length, 

 and two inches and a half in breadth, of a bright shining 

 green above, and covered below with a silvery bloom, giving 

 the plant a very glaucous appearance, and affording a fine 

 contrast to the colour of the upper surface of the leaves. 

 The flowers appear at the end of June, and continue through 

 July, on the extremity of the preceding year's shoots ; the 

 flower buds are covered with a spathe ( which has not been 

 generally noticed or described by authors) that falls off 

 before the flower opens, leaving a marked ring on the pe- 

 duncle, at a short distance from the flower. The calyx con- 

 sists of three ovate leaves, of very thin substance, which is 

 green at first, and afterwards becomes whitish; they are 

 rather concave when open, are not reflected, and soon decay. 

 The flowers are at first white, or rather of a rich cream 

 colour, acquiring gradually a pale apricot hue, passing into 

 a light brown, in which state of colour they decay. There 

 are generally eight or nine petals, near an inch and a half 

 long, in each flower ; the three outer petals envelop ethe 

 others, before the flower expands ; these are very concave, 

 and quite round at the top, contracting towards their lower 

 extremity, but preserving broad bases at their insertion m 

 the recptacle ; the interior petals are narrower, each being 

 progressively smaller than the one outside of it ; sometimes a 

 few rudiments of more petals exist in the centre. The flower 



