DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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the size and fragrance of their blossoms, or the beauty of 
their large and noble foliage, we may be allowed to doubt 
whether there is a more magnificent and showy genus of 
deciduous trees in the world. With the exception of a few 
shrubs or smaller trees, natives of China and the mountains 
of Central Asia, it belongs exclusively to this continent, as 
no individuals of this order are indigenous to Europe or 
Africa. The American species attracted the attention of 
the first botanists who came over to examine the riches of 
our native flora, and were transplanted to the gardens 
of England and France more than a hundred years ago, 
where they are still valued as the finest hardy trees of that 
hemisphere. 
The Large Evergreen Magnolia (M. grandijiora ), or 
Big Laurel, as it is sometimes called, is peculiarly indige- 
nous to that portion of our country south of North Carolina, 
where its stately trunk, often seventy feet in height, and 
superb pyramid of deep green foliage, render it one of the 
loveliest and most majestic of trees. The leaves, which 
are evergreen, and somewhat resemble those of the laurel 
in form, are generally six or eight inches in length, thick in 
texture and brilliantly polished on the upper surface. The 
highly fragrant flowers are composed of about six petals, 
opening in a wide cup-like form, of the most snowy white- 
ness of color. Scattered among the rich foliage, their 
effect is exquisitely beautiful. The seeds are borne in an 
oval, cone-like carpel or seed-vessel, composed of a number 
of cells which split longitudinally, when the stony seed, 
covered with a bright red pulp, drops out. There are 
several varieties, which have been raised from the seed of 
this species abroad ; the most beautiful is the Exmouth 
Magnolia, with fine foliage, rusty beneath ; it produces its 
