Foliage of Magnolia trees

The foliage is rich and glossy, and has a very peculiar form; being cut off, as it were, at the extremity, and slightly notched and divided into two-sided lobes. The breadth of the leaves is six or eight inches. The flowers, which are shaped like a large tulip, are composed of six thick yellow petals, mottled on the inner surface with red and green. They are borne singly on the terminal shoots, have a pleasant, slight perfume, and are very showy. The seed-vessel, which ripens in October, is formed of a number of scales surrounding the central axis in the form of a cone. It is remarkable that young trees under 30 or 35 feet high, seldom or never perfect their seeds.