Tender Exotic Magnolias

TENDER EXOTIC MAGNOLIAS Magnolia parviflora, a little known species from Japan, is hardy in Salem, Massachusetts, where a handsome tree, the largest in this country, blooms freely. Its white flowers have few petals, but in form and texture they are exquisite.

Campbell's magnolia (M. Campbellz) is at once the most beautiful and the most difficult of cultivation of all our tender exotic species. It is the glory of the high mountain valleys of the Himalayas, where at very high altitudes it is a great tree. But in this country it cannot endure cold winters, and even in the extreme South it does not grow as it does at home. However, it is a splendid magnolia, and some day we hope to see it—a tree 8o to ioo feet high—covered, before the leaves appear, with its rosy bells. It is, or should be, to the Southern States what the Soulangeana group is to the North, for its petals are coloured pink or crimson, shading from the pale interior to deeper colouring on the outside. The flower cups are from 6 to to inches in diameter and sweet scented.

The rest of the tender exotic species bloom after the leaves appear. Of these, the best, by all odds, is Magnolia hypoleuca, a tall tree which is notable because it is used so extensively in the manufacture of the lacquered wares for which the Japanese are famous. It is readily distinguished from all the species so far described by the dash of scarlet in the centre of its white blossoms.

This colour is on the filaments of the stamens, and not on the petals. Another strikingly beautiful feature of this tree is the silvery linings of the leaves, which are much larger than those of the swamp bay. The latter species shows far less brilliant contrast in its foliage mass than does this exotic.

Another species with crimson-centred flowers is Watson's magnolia (M. Watsoni), a small tree, with blossoms 5 or 6 inches across. These have a decided odour of allspice.

The dwarf magnolia (M. pumila), a native of China, grows only 4 or 5 feet high, as a rule, and has white flowers which exhale a perfume like that of a ripe pineapple. This is especially strong at night. The flowers are small—only an inch or two in diameter —but the shrub is widely found in Southern gardens, probably because of its fragrance and the foliage, which is evergreen. Its period of bloom is long, and under glass it becomes everblooming. The purple magnolia (M. obovata) is also grown in the South, but I see no reason why it should be. Surely it is inferior to its noted offspring, which embody all its good traits and are, besides, far easier to grow.