QORDONIA 
291 
tered hollows, and where these peat- 
layers have accumulated grow dense 
thickets of Gor^/o//ia Lasia//t/i us ^known 
in America as the Loblolly Bay, their 
myriad flowers from July to September 
making a display of surpassing beauty. 
In these wilds the Gordonia rises to a 
height of 70 feet or more in rich soil, 
miM 
GOKHONIA ANOMAI.A. 
with every intermediate stage of growth 
to that of a low shrub. The long dark 
roots never strike deep but run a long 
distance beneath the thin peaty layers, 
to where they can dip into the standing 
pools lying at the bottom of these cup- 
like depressions. The trees are thus not 
only sheltered from prevailing winds, 
but the ground surface is often thick 
with mosses which keeps the soil evenly 
moist and cool, and in which the falling 
seeds readily germinate. These Bay- 
swamps often cover hundreds of acres, 
and the tree is found throughout the 
marshy tracts bordering the Atlantic 
coast from S. Virginia to Florida, and 
thence in decreasing quantity along the 
shores of the Gulf States to the valley 
of the Mississippi. The second hardy 
kind, G.pu^esce7/SyW3.s{ound 
under similar conditions on 
the banks of the Altamaha 
River by Bartram in 1770, 
but as has been said, no fresh 
And has taken place for well 
over a century, and the one 
original tree planted by the 
botanist at Philadelphia has 
recently died. All existing 
specimens of Goj^doiiia piib- 
are said to have sprung 
from this tree. 
The great bar to 
Culture. r 1 1 
successiul culture, 
even in the warmer parts of 
England, is the failure of the 
Gordoniasto ripen thewood, 
which is mainly produced in 
autumn. Not only are the 
flowers fewer as a conse- 
quence, but the softer parts 
of the shoots are apt to be cut back by 
frost, and where this loss is repeated fail- 
ure must ensue. Even in the Southern 
States, with an ardent sun and a fine 
autumn, the tips of the shoots are fre- 
quently lost in a severe winter, for they 
grow until the frost is upon them and the 
unripened parts perish asaresult. There, 
however, it acts only as a salutary prun- 
ing and passes almost unnoticed, but 
in this country the loss is greater, in pro- 
