This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol2", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
Trees or shrubs. Leaves large and generally thick, entire. Buds covered with condu-plicate sheathing stipules. Flowers large, fragrant. Sepals 3, petaloid. Petals 6-12, imbricated in 2-4 series. Anthers linear, introrse. Carpels spiked or capitate on the elevated or elongated receptacle, 2-ovuled, forming follicles at maturity. Seeds fleshy, anatropous, suspended from the ripe cones by slender filamentous threads. [In honor of Pierre Magnol, 1638-1715, Professor of Botany in Montpellier.]
A genus of about 25 species, natives of eastern North America, the West Indies, Mexico, eastern Asia and the Himalayas. Type species: Magnolia virginiana L.
Leaves auriculate, glabrous. | 1. | M. Fraseri. |
2. | M. macrophylla. | |
Leaves acute at base. | ||
Leaves 8'-2o' long, light green and somewhat pubescent beneath. | 3. | M. tripetala. |
Leaves 3'-6' long, glaucous beneath. | 4. | M. virginiana. |
Leaves rounded or truncate at the base, thin. | 5. | M. acuminata. |
Fig. 1845
Magnolia Fraseri Walt. Fl. Car. 159. 1788. Magnolia auriculata Lam. Encycl. 3: 673. 1789.
A tree 25°-50° high, the trunk 5'-2o in diameter, straight, the branches widely spreading. Leaf-buds glabrous; leaves clustered at the ends of the branches, auriculate, 6'-20' long, 3'-8' broad, elongated-obovate or oblong, contracted below, glabrous, the lower surface light green, the upper surface darker; petioles slender, 1' - 3' long; flowers white, 3'-8' broad; petals spatulate or obovate, obtuse, much longer than the sepals; cone of fruit 3'-4' long, rose-colored when mature.
In mountain woods, Virginia and Kentucky to Florida and Mississippi. Heart-wood soft, brown; sap-wood white. Weight per cubic foot 31 lbs. North Carolina-bay. Cucumber-tree. Indian-physic. Water-lily tree. May-June.
Fig. 1846
Magnolia macrophylla Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 327. 1803.
A tree 20°-60° high, the trunk 6'-2o' in diameter, bark gray. Leaf-blades silky-pubescent; leaves oblong or obovate, blunt, cordate, 1°-3 1/2° long, 8'-14' broad, glabrous and green above, glaucous-white and pubescent beneath; petioles stout, 2'-4' long; flowers 8"-15' in diameter, white with a large purple center; petals ovate-oblong, obtuse, thrice the length of the rounded sepals; cone of fruit ovoid-cylindric, 4'-6' long, bright rose-colored at maturity.
In woods, southeastern Kentucky to North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana. Heart-wood brown, satiny, hard; sap-wood light yellow; weight per cubic foot 33 lbs. Elk-bark. Silver-leaf. Big-bloom. May-June.
 
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