gfi 
POLYANDRIA POLY GY'slA. 
A handsome shrub, growing sometimes 6 — 10 feet high, remarkable for 
its bright, smooth, perennial leaves. Leaves on short petioles, rather acute 
than obtuse, but never acuminate. Floivers small, axillary, generally cer- 
nuous, on peduncles scarcely 1-2 an inch long. Petals dull yellow, gen- 
erally 6 — 8 but I believe not definite in their number. Stamens short. 
Germ superior. Capsules very handsomely arranged in a circle around a 
central receptacle. 
This plant, originally, I believe, from the banks of St. John’s, East- 
Florida, is now common in our gardens, and is almost naturalised. 
Flowers May — June. 
MAGNOLIA. Gen. Pl. 942. 
Calyx 3-phylIus. 
Petala 6 — 9. Capsu- 
Ice 2-valves, 1-spermas, 
in strobilum imbrica- 
te. Semina pend il- 
ia. 
1. GRANDiFLORA. 
M. foliis perennan- 
tibus,ovali-lanceolatis, 
crassis, coriaceis, sub- 
tus ferrugineis ; petal- 
is dilatatoobovatis,ab 
rupte in unguem an- 
gustatis. 
Sp. pl. 2. p. 1255. Walt. p. 
p. 380. Mich. Arb. 3. p. 71* 
Calyx 3-leaved. 
Petals 6 — 9. Cap- 
sules 2-valved, 1- seed- 
ed, imbricated, form- 
ing an ovate strobilus. 
Seeds pendulous. 
Leaves perennial, 
oval lanceolate, thick, 
coriaceous, ferrugin- 
ous underneath ; pe- 
tals obovate, abruptly 
contracted into a claw. 
158. Mich. 1. p. 326. Pursh, 2. 
This magnificent tree is almost too well known to need description. It 
rises sometimes 60, 70, or 80 feet in height, with a naked smooth colum- 
nar stem, and the head when not injured by accident is always regularly 
pyramidal, or semi elliptical. F rom May to August in favorable situations 
it is almost always covered with its brilliant white flowers, terminating the 
young branches. The petals are large, oval, or obovate, abruptly nar- 
rowed at base ; concave, coriaceous, of a brilliant white, but becoming in- 
stantly ferruginous, when scratched or bruised. Letters can easily be 
written on them with the point of any sharp instrument. Stamens very 
numerous, imbricate, much shorter than the corolla. Germs superior 
a gg re g ate( l on an oblong, ovate receptacle. Style short, recurved. 
Capsules sitting on the receptacle, imbricated, splitting longitudinally. 
