MAGNOLIAS. 315 
MAGNOLIAS. 
By P. C. M. Veitch, V.M.H. 
[Read April 27, 1920 ; Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., V.M.H. , in the chair.] 
Among the many beautiful trees and shrubs grown in the British 
Isles, Magnolias take a prominent position. 
The evergreen Magnolia grandiflora has no rival as a wall plant. 
Its large glossy leaves are attractive all the year round, and its 
beautiful large white flowers scent the air for weeks together in the 
early autimin. As a specimen tree for the adornment of the park or 
pleasure ground — particularly in the milder parts of Great Britain — 
it is also well worthy of cultivation, but even in the south of England 
it is safer to treat this plant as a wall plant. There are large trees in 
Devonshire forty to fifty years old, and 30 feet high, of the Exmouth 
variety, which are very beautiful, and which lead one to think that 
more standard trees should be planted if sites can be chosen in good 
loam and fairly sheltered from cold winds. There have been many 
failures with Magnolias on walls ; but is it not after all the fault of the 
planter in buying seedling plants which do not bloom so freely as layers 
from the true Exmouth variety ? 
M. grandiflora grows to a height of 20 to 30 feet. Its leaves are 
oval and oblong, the upper surface being shiny and the under surface 
rusty. The flowers are erect, with nine to twelve petals, white and 
fragrant. It was introduced from N. Carolina in 1737. 
The most distinct of the varieties of M. grandiflora is the Exmouth 
variety, and on account of its flowering early and freely it is the one 
best deserving of general cultivation. It forms a tall, elegant bush 
or tree (fig. 186) with oblong, elliptical leaves, generally rusty under- 
neath ; the flowers are somewhat contracted, creamy white and 
very fragrant. One writer on Magnolias had the idea that only 
those of M. grandiflora with a bronze under-surface flowered, but 
this is not correct. The plants of M. grandiflora sold in the nurseries 
as the common broad-leaved Magnolia are frequently raised from 
American, French, or Italian seeds, and the plants, though they grow 
freely, do not flower for twenty or thirty years after being planted out. 
M. grandiflora ferruginea is a beautiful foliage plant. The leaves 
are large, deep green above and a deep brown beneath. 
Another evergreen species is also finding favour with plant-lovers, 
the Chinese species, M. Delavayi. Its very large, dull-green leaves, 
silvery beneath, are very attractive, and though the flowers are not 
so fine as those of M. grandiflora, they are still good. Unfortunately, 
it is not particularly hardy, and, while growing perfectly on walls, 
succeeds as a park tree in only a few warm localities. M. Delavayi 
was introduced from China in 1899. From its appeaiance in sheltered 
