If we set out to find the trees that have the largest flowers, meaning to
count only trees that grow wild in our woods, it will save time to go
straight south into North Carolina, and climb the foot hills of the
Allegheny Mountains. Or it may be that in the fertile valleys that lie
between the low ridges we shall first come upon a magnolia, called the
large-leaved cucumber tree. Anywhere from North Carolina to Florida, and
west to Arkansas, these remarkable trees are likely to be found, in small
groups. In cultivation, they are successfully planted as far north as
Boston.
Before the tree has attained more than a man’s height it is a wonder, on
account of the leaves which measure more than a foot in length, and have
their long, green blades lined with white. In June the flowers open—great
white bowls, made of waxen petals, in a double row, the inner ones
painted purple at their bases, giving the flower a purple centre.
The wind blows the leaves about, and tears them into rags, unless the
tree is in a sheltered place. The silvery leaf linings, as white as the
blossoms, make it difficult to see that the tree is in bloom, until one
is close enough to see the petals. If the leaves were green on both sides
the great blossoms, as large as a man’s head, would be seen afar off. The
tree would look like a giant rose bush.
From Pennsylvania southward to the Gulf of Mexico, and west to Arkansas
and Texas, the evergreen magnolia grows on stream borders, and even on
uplands where the soil is not very moist. When this pyramid of shining
green leaves lights all its waxen tapers, it is a sight worth a day’s
journey to see. Each stiff twig is bent upward, and there a bud appears
in spring. A few at a time, the flowers open, and the blooming time lasts
till August.
Each blossom is a deep, creamy cup, made of six wax-like petals,
surrounded by three white sepals. Inside are many stamens, purple at the
base, and a cone of pistils, all grown together.
The leaves are oblong or oval, often eight inches long, thick, deep
green, and bright as if polished on the upper surface. The lining is dull
green, sometimes covered with rusty down. The paler green and the
brighter polish on the young leaves add much beauty to the tree in
summer. In winter the leaves get grimy and the tree top is sombre, for
most of the foliage has seen much wear and tear.
In autumn the ends of the twigs hold up green cones, made of many furry
capsules that end in curved horns. Each capsule splits when ripe, and a
scarlet seed, like a berry, hangs out on an elastic thread, and swings
lower and lower, until finally it is carried away. Thus the magnolia sows
its seeds in winter.
The shining leaves of this magnolia come North at the Christmas season,
and are used to decorate homes and churches. Holly, mistletoe, palm
leaves, and the beautiful Southern smilax are other Christmas greens now
commonly in use. They are all gathered with magnolia and shoots of the
long-leaf pine, in the woods down South.
The swamp bay is a magnolia that grows as a shrub to New England, keeping
to the swampy lands that skirt the Atlantic coast. Every spring the
fragrant, creamy blossoms are to be bought from street Arabs in New York
and Philadelphia. A single globular flower is surrounded by a whorl of
oval leaves, bright green, but lined with a white, powdery substance that
makes them look silver-lined. The flowers are deliciously fragrant, and
most beautiful when not spread wide open. The seller often takes the
trouble to spring the petals back, to make the blossom seem bigger. The
waxy petals turn brown soon after such handling, and all their natural
beauty departs.
From Florida westward to Texas this magnolia becomes a slender, tall
evergreen tree. The best flowers of this tree are borne on shoots that
are produced by pruning back the new growth each year. The largest leaves
and flowers are also the handsomest.
The cucumber tree is the magnolia of the North. It is a fine tree in
Ontario, Canada, and from this region it spreads south, its range
widening like a fan, reaching from Arkansas to the Carolinas, and
Mississippi, and Alabama. The tropical appearance of the tree is due to
the big, heart-shaped leaves. Their tulip-like flowers are as large as
garden tulips, but they make scarcely any show, because they are very
much the same in colour as the yellowish-green new leaves that surround
them.
The “cucumbers” are the green cones that contain the seeds. They are very
lumpy and irregular in form, but when ripe the cells split open and the
scarlet seed, let down on an elastic thread from each, looks like any
magnolia seed.
Cucumber wood is soft, yellowish-brown, and close-grained. It is not very
good lumber, though put to many uses. The tree is worth more alive than
dead. It is an admirable shade tree, though not planted as much as it
deserves.
The tulip tree is a close relative of the magnolias. It is one of the
trees with large flowers, though, like the cucumber tree, the colour of
the flowers makes them rather inconspicuous. In June the upturned twigs
blossom with yellow tulips. The three sepals flare outward, the petals
form the cup. A band of orange decorates the cup, and signals the bees
which come for nectar hidden near the bottom of the flower cup, among the
bases of the many stamens.
Many people see the gay petals of the tulip tree flowers when they fall
on the sidewalk, and some wonder what these bits of colour are. A few
will say: “There must be a tulip tree near by,” and look up to find the
singular squared-leaf blades that belong to no other tree. There is a
whole tree top fluttering with them, and this tremulous motion explains
why the tree is often called the tulip poplar. The yellow wood gives the
name, yellow poplar. Pulp of this wood is used for the manufacture of the
ordinary postal cards. It has many other uses, and is a valuable lumber
tree. For shade and ornament it is one of the best trees to plant.
The cones of the tulip tree do not set free their seeds, as those of the
magnolias do. Instead of horned capsules, the cone has flat, overlapping
blades, like the wing of a maple seed, and the small, closed seed case is
the base of the blade. A few of these seeds are fully developed. But when
the winter strips the tree of its leaves, the wind shakes the cones, and
the loosened scales gradually fall. The wind catches the flat wings, and
away they sail. Little tulip trees grow up where good seeds fall in
favourable ground.
One day a neighbour told me that there was a tree in blossom on the side
of the ravine. This was a strange story, for it was the dead of winter.
We went to see this wonderful tree. What do you think it was? A tulip
tree, with the seed cones half stripped of their seeds, and shining like
yellow flowers on the ends of the twigs. It was not strange at all that a
person who did not know the tree, and had never seen its cones in
mid-winter, should make this very mistake.
The flowering dogwood invites us every spring to break off branches
covered with big, white blossoms, each like a four-pointed star, with a
cluster of small white buds in the centre. The trees are small and
low-branching, their limbs are flat, and they spread outward and slightly
downward. Who can resist cutting a few of the blossoming boughs of this
lovely tree! The best part is that the tree suffers not at all if the
pruning is done with some care. Take a thought for the tree; cut the
branches clean with a knife. Take them off where they are thick, and you
will leave the tree better in shape than when you came. Do not strip it
of flowers. This will cripple it. A few sprays of dogwood, prettily
arranged in a vase, are a delight to the eye. A crowded mass of them is
not at all.
The four outer wings of white are not the petals of a dogwood blossom.
They are colourless leaves, the full-grown scales of the winter flower
buds. The notch at the tip is made by the falling off of the withered tip
which in winter protected the flowers. The base grew long and broad and
turned gradually white. The bees see these white banners farther,
perhaps, than they can catch the faint perfume. Watch the bee as she
probes the middle flowers for nectar. See the pollen on her hairy body.
From one to another, she is the pollen distributor of these flowers, and
she doesn’t know it.