MagnO1&a WilSOnll (Finet & Gagnepain) Rehdert7

This is a very distinct species readily hangmg among the young foliage. The distinguished by a dense pubescence on are borne freely and are the under stde of the , by the delightfully fragrant. The hanging shape, and by the prominent scar on cylindric fruit, purple in color, with its the peduncle left behind by the scarlet jacketed seeds displayed, is spathoid bract. The seedlings are handsome during early October. without the characteristic pubescence This , usually in the form on the which does not begin to put of a straggling bush, is quite common tn an appearance until the are in moist thickets and woods to the three or four years old. The flowers south-east of Tachien-lu between point downwards and are seen to best elevations of from 4000 to 8500 feet advantage from belo~ when the above sea level; in more recent years it crimson show in marked has been found tn western Yunnan. I contrast with the pure white and dtscovered it tn late May l904 along petals which are tndtstingutshable. The side of a stream growing amongst a bud looks very much like an egg miscellany of broad-leaved and e4

Magnolia wilsonii in Brian Savage's garden. . At its altitudinal limit it is blossomed in many gardens in the associated with Rhododendron. Silver British Isles as well as in France and is Fir, Spruce and Hemlock. In the appreciated as one of the best of its autumn of 1904 I sent seeds (((1587 group under cultivation. The fruits are Veitch seed) packed in earth to Messrs. often ripe the end of August. Veitch and a number of plants were In his book on , Migais'" raised at Coombe Wood Nursery. says; ln 1910 I collected a large quantity "This species of Magnolia is one of of seeds (((1374 A) and forwarded the best introductions we have had them, some packed in earth, others from China of recent years. It is quite wrapped in oil paper, to the Arnold hardy over the whole of Central and Arboretum. Many hundreds of plants southern England and is, moreover. a were raised. Unfortunately this species, vigorous grower, although its young no more than any other of my Chinese shoots are not robust. Fortunately it Magnolias, has not proved hardy in the comes freely from seed ripened in our Arnold Arboretum. The young plants. islands, and tHere will soon be a good however, were distributed far and wide, stock for distribution. After the a great many being sent to M second year young plants in favourable Leon Chenault, a noted French soil will grow as much as three feet in propagator and nurseryman. ' This one season, though it is likely that after ensured their permanence in the a few years this rate of progress will gardens of Europe at least. slow down as it does in M. parviflora. This Magnolia flowered for the first Wilson speaks of it as a small only time at Caerhays Castle in the spring 18 feet high. and that height it seems of 1915; the being one of the certain to achieve in this country. It original seedlings raised by Messrs. I)owers in quite a young state, and Veitch. The I'ogowing year the plant when it reaches a certain maturity. blossomed at St. Keverne. In 1919 it should be a great ornament to our Iirst (lowered at Kew; it has since gardens if it gives. as seems likely, a continuance of blooms over a long period as is the case with M. parviflora. The lovely pendant (lowers when borne in masses should exhibit a sight similar to a glorified Halesia ieiraprera; so we can look forward to a time when Magnolia wilsonii will be one of the treasures of English Gardens. "

17. This taxon was originally described as Magnolia parviflara var. Wilsonii Finet & Gagnepain (Mem. Soc. Bot. France IV: 39. 1906) where the collection Wilson ((3(37 (Veitch specimen) was indicated as the type. An isotype in the herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum has both Bo»ers and fruit but is undated. Wilson's field books do not give sufficient data to associate the Veiich seeds (((587 with the t&pe herbanum specimen 113137. wilsonii " Magnolia flowe I& Miuai» "Magnoliss. p 250. 1927.

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