the LAUREL-LEAVED TULIP TREE, in botany: A genus of the polygynia order, belonging to the polyandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 5th order, Coadmate. The calyx is triphyllous; there are nine petals; the capsules bivalved and imbricated; the seeds pendulous, and in the form of a berry.

Species. 1. The glauca, or small magnolia, is a native of Virginia, Carolina, and other parts of North America. In moist places it rises from seven or eight to 15 or 16 feet high, with a slender stem. The wood Magnolia wood is white and spongy, the bark smooth and of a greenish white colour; the branches garnished with thick smooth leaves, like those of the bay; but of an oval shape, smooth on their edges, and white underneath. The flowers are produced at the extremities of the branches, are white, composed of five concave petals, and have an agreeable scent. After the flowers are past, the fruit increases in size till it becomes as large as a walnut with its cover; but of a conical shape, having many cells round the outside, in each of which is a flat seed about the size of a small kidney-bean. When ripe, the fruit is of a brown colour, the seeds are discharged from their cells, and hang by a slender thread. 2. The grandiflora, or great magnolia, is a native of Florida and South Carolina. It rises to the height of 80 feet or more, with a straight trunk upwards of two feet diameter, having a regular head. The leaves resemble those of the laurel, but are larger, and continue green throughout the year. The flowers are produced at the ends of the branches, and are of a purplish white colour. 3. The tripetala, or umbrella-tree, is a native of Carolina. It rises, with a slender trunk, to the height of 16 or 20 feet; the wood is soft and spongy; the leaves remarkably large, and produced in horizontal circles, somewhat resembling an umbrella, from whence the inhabitants of those countries have given it this name. The flowers are composed of ten or eleven white petals, that hang down without any order. The leaves drop off at the beginning of winter. 4. The acuminata, with oval, spear-shaped, pointed leaves, is a native of the inland parts of North America. The leaves are near eight inches long, and five broad; ending in a point. The flowers come out early in the spring, and are composed of 12 white petals; the wood is of a fine grain, and an orange colour.

Culture, &c. All these species are propagated by seeds, which must be procured from the places where they grow naturally. They should be put up in sand, and sent over as soon as possible; for if they are kept long out of the ground, they rarely grow.—The glauca generally grows in a poor swampy soil, or on wet meadows. The English and Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey call it beaver-tree, because the root of it is the dainty of beavers, which are caught by its means. It drops its leaves early in autumn, though some of the young trees keep them all the winter. This tree is seldom found to the north of Pennsylvania, where it begins to flower about the end of May. The scent of its blossoms is exquisite: for by it you can discover, within three quarters of an English mile, whether these little trees stand in the neighbourhood, provided the wind be not against it; for the whole air is filled with this sweet and pleasant odour. It is beyond description agreeable to travel in the woods about that time, especially towards night. They retain their flowers for three weeks, and even longer, according to the quality of the soil on which the trees stand; and during the whole time of their being in blossom, they spread their camphorous exhalations. The berries likewise look very fine when they are ripe; for they have a rich red colour, and hang in bunches on slender stalks. The cough and other pectoral diseases are cured by putting the berries into rum or brandy, of which a draught every morning may be taken: the virtues of this remedy were universally extolled, and even praised, for their salutary effects in consumptions. The bark being put into brandy, or boiled in any other liquor, is said not only to ease pectoral diseases, but likewise to be of some service against all internal pains and heat; and it was thought that a decoction of it could stop the dysentery. Persons who had caught cold boiled the branches of the beaver-tree in water, and drank it to their great relief. Kalm.