' The Garden Magazine, March, 1920 
49 
them with well-decayed manure. These are practical items 
of the highest importance. Moreover, such magnificent garden 
plants are worthy of a little extra attention and repay it a 
hundred-fold. 
Our Native Deciduous Species 
T HF. most delightful of American Magnolias hardy in 
New England is the Sweet Bay, M. virginiana, better 
known as M. glauca. In the North this is never more than 
a large bush or small tree; but in the South it is often a large 
tree from 50 to 70 ft. tall and from 6 to 10 ft. in girth of trunk. 
It has dark green shining leaves which are silvery-white on 
the underside; in shape they are oblong to somewhat oval, 
are leathery in texture and in moist, sheltered places the plant 
is sub-e.vergreen. The bark on the young shoots is a rich 
apple green and on the older branches it is gray. The flowers 
are small, cup-shaped, creamy white, gradually acquiring a 
pale apricot hue and are delightfully fragrant, scenting the 
whole neighborhood. They continue to open in succession 
from about mid-June until August when the red fruit cones 
begin to show in marked contrast against the dark, glossy 
green foliage. The roots yield a yellow dye. According to 
Emerson, the plant affords a good tonic and warm stimulant 
and was formerly used with great success in chronic rheuma- 
tism, in intermittent fevers, and particularly in fever and ague. 
The Sweet Bay grows wild in swamps and is found in Essex 
County, Mass., and from Queens County, Long Island, to 
Louisiana and southern Arkansas. There is not a more 
delightful North American shrub to plant in gardens nor one 
that will give larger returns in beauty and fragrance. It is 
an old plant, having been discovered and introduced into 
Europe before the 17th century — yet it is unknown to most 
American planters of this generation! In eastern Florida 
there is said to grow a dwarf form (var. pumila) which does 
not exceed 3 or 4 ft. in height. A hybrid (M. major, better 
known as M. Thompsoniana) between the Sweet Bay and 
the Umbrella-tree (M. tripetala) has the general appearance 
of M. virginiana, but larger leaves and larger flowers. 
The most stately of the hardy American Magnolias is M. 
acuminata, the Cucumber-tree, so called from the slight 
resemblance borne by the young fruits to a small cucumber. 
It is a tree from 70 to 90 ft. tall with a stout trunk and 
ascending-spreading branches forming a bold, broadly pyr- 
amidal crown. The leaves are from 6 to 10 inches long, 
oblong and pointed, green on both surfaces and slightly hairy 
below. The flowers are erect, cup-shaped, glaucous-green 
tinged with yellow and are slightly fragrant. It is hardy as 
far north at least as Hanover, New Hampshire, and is found 
wild from western New York to Ohio and southward. A 
shapely, free-growing tree it is eminently suitable for avenue 
planting and as a specimen tree on lawns and in parks. It 
was one of the trees introduced into Europe by the famous 
John Bartram, who sent it in 1746 to Collinson in London 
with whom it flowered for the first time on May 20, 1762. 
There is a form of the Cucumber-tree (aurea) with yellow 
leaves slightly streaked and mottled with green. 
Somewhat similar to M. acuminata is the Yellow Cucumber- 
tree (M. cordata) whose history is quite romantic. It was 
originally discovered by the French botanist and traveller, 
Michaux, in the neighborhood of Augusta, Georgia, some time 
between 1787 and 1796 and by him (or his son) immediately 
sent to France. All the trees now in gardens have ; been 
derived from the original introduction. Many efforts to re- 
discover this tree were made, but all failed until six years 
ago when Mr. Louis A. Berckmans accidentally happened 
upon it in a dry wood some eighteen miles south of Augusta, 
Georgia. Michaux described it as a tree 40-50 feet tall but 
the recent discoveries are bushes from four to six feet high. 
As we know it in cultivation Michaux’s plant is a medium- 
sized tree with a shapely rounded crown, and broadly ovate 
leaves more or less heart-shaped at the base and hairy on the 
underside. The cup-shaped, faintly odorous flowers are yellow, 
about 4 inches across and have the inner petals frequently 
marked with reddish lines. It flowers freely about the be- 
ginning of June and in wet seasons bears a second crop of 
flowers in late July and August. 
Most remarkable is the Great-leafed Magnolia (M. macro- 
phylla) which has the largest undivided leaves of any tree 
hardy in the gardens of the north temperate regions. The 
leaves are sometimes as much as 3^ ft. long and from 8-9 
inches wide and are obovate-oblong, narrowed and heart- 
shaped at the base, and hairy and white on the underside. 
The flowers open about the end of June and are from 8 to 
12 inches across, bowl-shaped, fragrant, white with a purple 
blotch at the base of the inner petals. It is not a large tree, 
seldom exceeding 40 ft. in height with a trunk about 3 ft. in 
girth. It attains its maximum development in sheltered valleys 
and forest glades on the limestone of North Carolina. A rare 
tree in a wild state, it is distributed from North Carolina to 
middle Florida and westward to southeast Kentucky and south 
through Tennessee to mid-Alabama. 
It is another discovery of the elder Michaux, who found it 
in North Carolina in 1789 and introduced it to European 
gardens the following year. Naturally, with such huge leaves, 
it requires protection from the wind and should be planted 
in a cool sheltered place. It is hardy in the Arnold Arbore- 
tum and at Rochester, N. Y., where there are fine old trees in 
the Elwanger and Barry nursery. Such a remarkable tree is 
worthy of the widest recognition among garden lovers. 
Ranking next in size of leaf to the above is the Umbrella- 
tree (M. tripetala) which has leaves from i| to 3 ft. long, 
obovate-lance-shaped, tapering at both ends, and clustered at 
the end of the shoot. The flowers are white, slightly scented, 
and from 5 to 8 inches across. The Umbrella-tree seldom 
exceeds 40 ft. in height, and grows wild from York and Lan- 
caster counties, Pennsylvania, along the Alleghanies to Virginia 
and Kentucky. It is an old denizen of gardens, having been 
introduced to England about 1750 where it flowered for the 
first time on May 24, 1760. 
The Earliest Flowering Native 
T HE first of the American Magnolias to open its flowers 
each year in Massachusetts is M. Fraseri, the Ear-leaf 
Umbrella-tree. It is native of the south Appalachian region 
but is quite hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. A small tree, 
rarely more than 40 ft. tall, it has an open crown of long 
branches, leaves a foot long, oblong-obovate and spatulate 
in shape, deeply cleft at the base, green above and glaucous 
below. Its flowers, which are very conspicuous by reason of 
their standing well above the ends of the branches, are creamy- 
white, sweet scented and from 8 to 10 inches across; they open 
about the end of May. It was discovered by W. Bartram as 
long ago as 1776 and introduced to Europe about 1786 by John 
Fraser. Closely related to this but smaller in all its parts is 
M. pyramidata, which grows wild in the extreme southwestern 
corner of Alabama and ad jacent Florida and is not hardy in the 
Arnold Arboretum. 
The Evergreen Forms 
W E HAVE now mentioned all the deciduous Magnolias 
of this country. It remains to say a few words about 
the Bull Bay (M. grandiflora) one of the noblest evergreen, 
broad-leaf trees of the northern hemisphere. It is native of the 
warm Southern states and unfortunately cannot be grown out 
