LARGE-LEAVED CUCUMBER TREE (Magnolia macrophylla Michx.). 30 to 50 feet. Broad, round-beaded tree with slender trunk, branches stout, ending in snowy-tomentose buds 1 to 2 inches long. Bark thin, gray, with minute scales. Wood pale brown, close-textured, weak, of no use as lumber. Leaves simple, 16 to 30 inches long, 8 to 10 inches wide, obovate, rounded or acute at apex, deeply heart-shaped at base, or prolonged into ear-like lobes; margin entire; bright green, smooth above, silvery white, pubescent below; veins promi nent; petioles stout. Flowers white, with purple spot at base
of inner petals; cup-shaped, 10 to H inches across, fragrant, petals broad, at length flaring, and sepals reflexed. Fruit an almost globular cone, 2 to 3 inches long, pubescent, turning red as it ripens; seeds 3 of an inch long, scarlet, hung on threads. Dist.: Foothills of Alleghenies in North Carolina south to Florida; west to and Arkansas, in scattered groups. Planted for ornament, and as a curiosity for its huge leaves and flowers. Hardy in Boston.