MAGNOLIAS. 
blooms of a deep rosy pink. The tree in the Exeter nursery flowered 
in 1898 and has produced its blooms regularly, sometimes abundantly 
but often sparsely, since that date. It is a tall growing, deciduous tree 
from the Himalayas, often found 150 feet high, introduced into this 
country in 1868. It flowers in the early spring, from February to 
April, and the flowers are therefore unfortunately liable to be injured by 
frosts, but the plant itself is hardy over a wide area. The flowers, which 
are 6 to 10 inches in diameter, are cup-shaped and of a lovely shade 
of deep rose outside, pale pink inside ; they are sweetly scented. 
This species flowered both at Exeter and Cork in March 1903, and 
blooms were exhibited by Robert Veitch & Son of Exeter, and by W. 
Gumbleton, Esq., of Cork, at the R.H.S., when a First Class Certificate 
was awarded. The plant in the Exeter nursery is now 20 feet high 
with a spread of 20 feet. Another of the same size in garden of 
C. H. Cave, Esq., at Sidmouth, bore 150 gorgeous flowers in 
February 1921. M. Camphelli is a glorious plant and should be 
grown in every garden where the blooms can be sheltered from 
cold winds and frost. 
M. X Soulangeana (fig. 188) in all its many forms is a good grower. 
It is a hybrid which was raised about 1820 between M. conspicua 
and M. ohovata, gaining from the latter the purplish tinge of its 
flowers. It makes a very ornamental plant, either for the open garden 
or trained on the walls of a house. The flowers are white, tinged 
and flushed with purplish rose. There are some very large specimens 
to be found in old gardens ; one in the Vineyard Garden below Rouge- 
mont Castle, Exeter, measures 18 feet by 16 feet, and when this was 
in full flower on April 20, 1920, it was a sight worth going far to see. 
There is another fine specimen on an old Georgian house, 30 feet high. 
M. Soulangeana Alexandrina forms a good shrub or dwarf tree. 
The flowers are large and of good shape ; the outside petals are 
shaded white, but the inner row is washed with rose. 
M. Soulangeana nigra is a very dark form, giving to the garden 
a colour that is seldom seen — a deep, bright claret. It blooms in a 
young state and is quite a useful plant for the open garden. It was 
introduced from Japan in 186 1. 
Many other pretty forms of M. Soulangeana are grown and are use- 
ful either for garden-planting or for forcing for the conservatory, two 
of the best known being Norberti and speciosa. 
The origin of M. Lennei is uncertain. Its character, both as regards 
size and substance of the leaves as weU as of the flowers, and the fact 
that it flowers later than the ordinary conspicua and ohovata forms, 
throw doubts on the theory of its being a hybrid of this class. 
It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful varieties, and o\\ing to 
its flowering later than many, i.e. in May, it should be grown with 
success over a large area of the British Isles. The flowers are large, 
concave, and a beautiful shade of rose-purple outside, white inside. 
The variety known as M. rustica rubra is a first-class plant ; it 
is hardy, of good habit, and very free flowering. The flowers are large 
