AN INDIAN MAGNOLIA IN AMERICA. 
2 I I 
AN INDIAN MAGNOLIA IN AMERICA. 
By H. Nehrling. 
In Sir Joseph D. Hooker’s famous book, Himalayan Journals, 
we find the following short but highly interesting account of this 
beautiful evergreen magnolia: 
“Scarlet flowers' of V actinium' serpens, an epiphytal species, 
were strewed about, and the great blossoms of Rhododendron 
Dalhousiae and of a magnolia ( Talauma Hodgsoni) lay together 
on the ground. The latter forms a large tree, with very dense 
foliage, and deep shining green leaves, a foot to 18 inches long. 
Most of its flowers drop unexpanded from the tree, and diffuse 
a very aromatic smell; they are nearly as large as a fist, the outer 
petals purple, the inner pure white.” 
And in the beautiful hand-colored edition of his Illustrations 
of Himalayan Plants the same author gives the following de¬ 
scription : 
“ This is not an uncommon plant in the Sikkim forests, as at 
Khersiong and below Labong, where it grows close to the roads, 
forming a small tree 20 to 40 feet high, flowering in April, and 
always densely clothed with its large, handsome, coriaceous, 
evergreen leaves, which attain a great size in young plants. The 
flowers are very fragrant and aromatic; though they do not ex¬ 
pand much, they are exceedingly handsome, from the rich plum- 
bloom on the purple outer sepals, contrasting with the ivory 
whiteness of the inner ones; all the pieces of the flowers are 
thick, hard, and fleshy.” 
“ Talauma Hodgsoni flourishes in a stiff clay soil, as do almost 
all the Himalayan Magnoliaceae, and would require to be grown 
in a conservatory heated in winter.” 
These accounts created such an enthusiasm in the writer that 
he at once wrote to Darjeeling for seeds and to Dr. J. D. Hooker 
for further information. Mr. Wm. Kennedy, the director of the 
Botanical Gardens at Darjeeling, was kind enough to send me seeds, 
not only of Talauma Hodgsoni, but also of Michelia ( Magnolia ) 
