To give even a list of the deciduous trees which flourish and reach a high degree of perfection in the Atlantic forest would require far more space than is at present available. There is one other genus, however, which cannot be passed by even by a casual observer, and that is the magnolia, one species of which, the _grandiflora_, is the most magnificent of all the splendid broad-leaved trees of America. This, the largest and finest of the several species of its genus found in the eastern portion of the United States, attains a great size in the southern Appalachian region, but is best developed in the lower portion of the Mississippi Valley. It is frequently from 50 to 80 feet or more in height, wide-spreading, and in many instances upward of 3 feet in diameter, with dark-green leaves which do not fall in the autumn. In spring the dark foliage is beautified by cup-shaped blossoms of creamy whiteness and remarkable fragrance, which measure 3 or 4 inches in diameter. When the magnolia is in blossom it becomes a centre of delicious perfume and a colony of insect life. Its wood, although creamy white and excellent for cabinet-work and interior finish of houses, has not as yet found favour for these or other purposes. With the exception of a few species of broad-leaved forest-trees found in greatest perfection in the northern portion of the Atlantic forest, they reach their greatest development in size, number of species, and density of growth in the southern portion of the broad Mississippi basin, where, in addition to magnolias, the tulip-tree, etc., chestnuts, hickories, oaks, and many other genera grow side by side and attain great height and dignity. This is also the centre of dispersion of the American hawthorns, which reach a size and beauty unrivalled elsewhere. The Osage orange is peculiar to this region, and the red cedar (juniper), the most widely distributed of all the American conifers, and also the yellow or southern pine are there at their best. Much of this region still retains its primitive wildness. The great extent of the Atlantic forest in latitude, the topographic diversity of the region it occupies, and its exposure on the east to maritime and on the west to continental climatic conditions, have led to great variations within itself. From the coast of New England westward and including the entire drainage basin of the St. Lawrence, together with an extension southward along the Appalachians, the forests are composed largely and over extensive areas almost wholly of coniferous trees. This region of northern evergreens contains in its southern portion sturdy growths of broad-leaved deciduous trees. The spruces, the most characteristic of the trees of the subarctic region, are present in abundance on the mountains of New England, and still form a dark mantle over the Adirondack hills; but on the less elevated lands adjacent the white pine dominated and outnumbered all its rivals in the primeval forest.