Fig. 106.—The ripe fruit and seeds of the Evergreen Magnolia. tripetala), which grows like a shrub with several stems rising from the ground; the Cucumber-tree (M. acuminata), the flowers of which are bluish and the leaves pointed; Beaver wood (M. glauca), the flowers of which are small, and the leaves covered with a glaucous bloom; M. auriculata, M. pyramidata and M. macrophylla, which are nearly allied to the Cucumber-tree; and M. cordata, the flowers of which are yellowish. All these Magnolias produce their leaves before their flowers; and in this also they differ from M. conspicua, the flowers of which appear before the leaves.
The genus Liriodendron contains only two species differing slightly in the leaves. Both are lofty trees, with cup-shaped flowers of six petals curiously stained with red and yellow, and bent back at the tip. The calyx consists of three sepals, which remain on as long as the petals. The fruit is cone-shaped, but the carpels, which are each furnished with a kind of wing, instead of opening when ripe, fall with the seed enclosed.
The genus Talauma differs from Magnolia principally in the carpels, which open irregularly by valves; and in the number of petals, which vary from six to twelve. Only two species are common in British hothouses, T. Candolli, commonly called Magnolia odoratissima; and T. pumila, sometimes called M. pumila and sometimes Liriodendron lilifera: both are natives of Java, and both have cream-coloured, or yellowish flowers, which are remarkably fragrant at night.
ORDER IV. ANONACEÆ.—THE CUSTARD-APPLE TRIBE.
The hardy plants belonging to this order, that are well known in Britain, were formerly included in the genus Anona; but now the only species retained in that genus are stove plants, natives of the West Indies, with yellowish brown or dark purple flowers, the calyx of which is in three sepals, and the corolla in three or six thick fleshy petals, and which have numerous stamens with large angular anthers, and very short filaments. The carpels are numerous, but they grow altogether into a fleshy eatable fruit, divided into many cells, each containing one seed. This fruit is called the custard apple or sour sop in the West Indies; and it differs in flavour in the different species, but the most delicious kind is produced by A. Cherimolia, a native of Peru. The hardy species included in Anona by Linnæus have been separated from that genus, and formed into another under the name of Asimina, the principal distinction between them being in the fruit; which in the genus Asimina consists of two or three berry-like carpels growing together, not eatable, and each containing many seeds. A. triloba, the hardiest species, is a large shrub, with dark brownish purple flowers. The plants in this order are all aromatic.
ORDER V.—MENISPERMACEÆ.—THE COCCULUS TRIBE.
All the plants contained in this order are climbing exotic shrubs, generally with drooping racemes of small delicate flowers, the male and female flowers being on different plants. The number of sepals and petals varies in the different genera, and sometimes the petals are wanting. The stamens frequently grow together into a central column; and the fruit is a drupe or one-seeded berry, generally scarlet, but sometimes black. The principal plants in this order which are known in England, are, Menispermum canadensis (the Canadian Moon Seed), a very ornamental hardy, climbing, shrub; Cocculus palmatus, the root of which is a tonic drug, called Columba root; Anamirta Cocculus, which produces the berries called Cocculus indicus in the shops, which are said to be used in porter to give it an intoxicating property; Schizandra coccinea, a greenhouse climber with scarlet flowers; and Kadsura japonica, a climbing shrub with white flowers and red berries, which proves quite hardy in the open air. Kadsura, Schizandra, and three other genera, little known in this country, have been formed into a new order under the name of Schizandriaceæ. The qualities of all these plants are tonic.