The American species of Magnolia differ in having their flower-buds enveloped in one long spathe-like bract, as shown in _fig._ 105. The ovaries grow close together; and, when ripe, the carpels, which look like the scales of a fir-cone (see _fig._ 106), burst by a slit down the back; and the seeds, which are covered with a red juicy pulp, burst out, and hang down by a long white thread, which in the course of a few days withers away. The principal species of American Magnolias are the evergreen Magnolia, or Big Laurel (_M. grandiflora_); the Umbrella Tree (_M. 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.