=MAGNOLIÀCEAE.= The Magnolia Family.
Trees or shrubs with alternate and petioled leaves; flowers large,
terminal and solitary with numerous stamens and pistils.
Buds silky white pubescent; leaves entire; fruit fleshy,
dehiscent 1 Magnolia.
Buds glabrous; leaves lobed; fruit a cone of dry carpels,
indehiscent 2 Liriodendron.
=1. MAGNÒLIA.= The Magnolias.
=Magnolia acuminàta= Linnæus. Cucumber Tree. Plate 66. Large trees with
furrowed bark which is gray and much resembles the tulip tree except the
ridges are shallower and closer; twigs downy at first, becoming glabrous
or nearly so and a light to a cherry brown by the end of the season;
leaves oval, average blades 15-22 cm. long, rounded to truncate at the
base, abruptly short-pointed, pubescent on both sides at first, becoming
glabrous above, and remaining pubescent beneath, rarely entirely
glabrous; flowers about 6 cm. long, bell-shaped, pale yellowish-green;
fruit cylindrical, 5-7 cm. long, 1-2 cm. diameter, the large scarlet
seeds begin to push out of their receptacle in September; wood light,
soft, not strong, close-grained and durable.
=Distribution.=--North shore of Lake Erie, western New York, eastern
Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois and along the Appalachian
Mountains to southern Alabama and west to Arkansas. It doubtless
occurred in all or nearly all of the counties in southern Indiana south
of a line drawn from Franklin to Knox Counties. It no doubt was
extremely local. For instance a pioneer 81 years old who had always
lived in Washington County told me that there were two trees on his farm
near Pekin, and these were the only two trees he knew of in the
vicinity. These trees were popular because the neighbors came for the
fruit to put into whisky for making bitters which were a specific for
all ailments. I have seen only a shrub on the Forest Reserve in Clark
County. On a beech and sugar maple ridge about 4 miles northwest of
Medora in Jackson County on the Geo. W. Scott farm two trees were still
standing in 1915. Mr. Scott, a pioneer, said the species was found on
the ridge for about 2 miles and that there were about a half dozen trees
to the acre, and the largest was about a meter in diameter. It is known
in two other places in this county. A tree is still standing in Lawrence
County on the Sam Mitchell farm 2-1/2 miles south of Bedford. Mr.
Mitchell is a pioneer and says that a few trees were found in the
vicinity on the ridges. It has been reported for Franklin, Floyd and
Jefferson Counties. There is hearsay evidence that it occurred in other
counties.
[Illustration: Plate 66.