CUCUMBER
(Magnolia Acuminata)
This tree is a member of the magnolia family which has ten genera in North America, two of them, magnolia and liriodendron, being trees. The family has its name from Pierre Magnol, a French botanist who died in 1715. The genus magnolia has seven species in the United States, all of which are of tree size. They are evergreen magnolia (Magnolia foetida), sweet magnolia (Magnolia glauca), cucumber (Magnolia acuminata), largeleaf umbrella (Magnolia macrophylla), umbrella tree (Magnolia tripetala), Fraser umbrella (Magnolia fraseri), and pyramidal magnolia (Magnolia pyramidata). The remaining member of the magnolia family is the yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Though of the same family it is of a different genus from the seven other magnolias.
The cucumber is the hardiest member of the magnolia family. It is found in natural growth farther north than any other, yet it has the appearance of a southern tree. All magnolias look like trees belonging in the South. Their large leaves indicate as much, and some of them do not venture far outside of the warm latitudes. It is one of the oldest of all the families of broadleaf trees, and it has been a family that during an immense period of the earth’s history has clung near the old homestead where it came into existence countless ages ago. There were magnolias growing in the middle Appalachian region, and eastward to the present Atlantic coast, so far in the past that the time can be measured only by hundreds of thousands of years. Leaf prints in rocks, which were once mud flats, tell the story—though but a page here and there—of the magnolia’s ancient history, doubtless antedating by long periods the earliest appearance of man on earth.
Next to the yellow poplar, the cucumber tree is the most important species of the magnolia family, at least as a source of lumber. As an ornamental tree it may not equal some of the others, particularly certain of the southern species which are evergreen and produce large, showy flowers.
The cucumber tree receives its name from its fruit, which looks like a cucumber when seen at a distance, but it is far from being one. Its intense bitter makes it safe from the attacks of birds and beasts. So far as known, it is not eaten, tasted, or touched by any living creature—except man. Some of the pioneer settlers, in the days when there was precious little to eat on the frontiers, discovered a way of extracting the bitter from the wild cucumber, and making some sort of a pickle of the remainder; but the art seems to have been lost with the passing of the pioneers of the Daniel Boone type, and the wild cucumber now hangs untouched, and tempts nobody. It is three inches or less in length, generally slightly curved, and is green in color until fully ripe. Even the flowers which produce the fruit are green, with the merest suggestion of yellow. They are so inconspicuous that few persons ever notice them, even though cucumber trees stand in door yards. The ripe cucumbers are dark red or scarlet, or rather the seeds are, which grow on the surface like grains of corn on a cob, though fewer in number and farther apart. Something seems to be lacking in the machinery by which the flowers are fertilized, with the result that often nearly half the seeds which ought to cover the surface of the cucumber, fail to materialize. There are many blank spaces representing flowers which the pollen missed.
There is likewise something missing in the modus operandi of scattering the seeds. They have no wings, and the wind is powerless to carry them. They are as bitter as quinine and no bird, squirrel, or mouse will plant, carry, or touch them. Nature appears to have forgotten to provide any other means for dispersing the seeds of this remarkable tree. When seeds are fully ripe, they drop away from the parent fruit—the cucumber—but the fall of each seed is arrested by a small thread which suspends it from one to three inches below the fruit. There the seeds hang, swinging and dangling in the wind. What part the threads play in the economy of nature is not apparent, unless their purpose is to expose the seeds to a chance of becoming entangled with the wings, feet, or feathers of flying birds, whereby they may be carried away and dropped in suitable places for growing. There can be no doubt that this happens occasionally, and constitutes one of the methods of seed dispersal. Others are transported by flowing water.
The chances seem to be greatly against the survival of the cucumber tree in competition with maples, birches, pines, and cottonwoods, whose winged seeds are wind-borne; or with oaks, hickories, and walnuts whose heavy, wingless nuts are planted hither and thither by accommodating squirrels which are intent only on providing for their own winter wants, but in reality are industrious and effective forest planters. Notwithstanding the disadvantages under which the cucumber tree is placed, it has managed to hold its ground in the forest during immense periods of time, and it seems to be as firmly established now as ever.
The leaves of this tree are from seven to ten inches long, and four to six wide. In autumn before they fall they turn a blotched yellow-brown color. The first severe frost brings them all down in a heap. At sunset the tree may be laden with leaves, and by the next noon all will be on the ground. They are so heavy that the wind does not move them far, and they drop in heaps beneath the branches. In color they resemble owl feathers, and the suggestion that comes to one’s mind, who happens to pass under a cucumber tree the morning following the first frost, is that during the night some prowler picked a roost of owls and scattered the feathers on the ground.
The range of cucumber extends from western New York to Alabama, following the Appalachian mountains; and westward to Illinois and Mississippi, appearing west of the Mississippi river in Arkansas. It occurs on low rocky slopes, the banks of mountain streams, and on rich bottom land. It is of largest size and is most abundant in the narrow valleys in eastern Tennessee and the western parts of the Carolinas. The tree is from two to four feet in diameter, and sixty to ninety feet high. The trunk is of good form for sawlogs. Among its local names are pointed-leaf magnolia, black lin, magnolia, and mountain magnolia.
The wood of cucumber resembles that of yellow poplar in appearance and in physical properties, except that it is ten per cent heavier than poplar. It usually passes for that wood at sawmill and factory. The Federal census credits it with less than a million feet a year as lumber. That is much too small. It is valuable and finds ready sale. Manufacturers of wooden pumps regard it as the best material for the bored logs. It is worked into interior finish for houses, flooring for cars, interior parts of furniture, woodenware, boxes and crates, slack cooperage, including veneer barrels.
The tree is planted for ornament in the northern states and Europe. The chief value lies in its large, green leaves and symmetrical crown. The red fruit adds to the tree’s attractiveness late in summer.
Largeleaf Umbrella (Magnolia macrophylla) is valuable chiefly as a sort of ornamental curiosity, on account of its enormous leaves and flowers. The leaf is from twenty to thirty inches long and ten to twelve wide. It drops in autumn before its green color has undergone much change. The leaves lack toughness, and the wind whips them into strings long before the summer is ended. Thus what otherwise would be highly ornamental becomes somewhat unsightly. When well protected from wind by surrounding objects, the leaves fare better and last longer. The white, fragrant flowers are likewise remarkable on account of size. They are cup-shaped and some of them are almost a foot across. They pay a penalty no less severe than the leaves pay, on account of large size, and are liable to be thumped and bruised by swinging leaves and branches.
The largeleaf umbrella is a tree of the southern Appalachian mountains although its range extends southwest to Louisiana, and northward from there to Arkansas. It is at its best in deep rich soil of sheltered valleys, occurring in isolated groups, but never in pure forests. It is known as large-leaved cucumber tree, great-leaved magnolia, large-leaved umbrella tree, and long-leaved magnolia. The fruit is nearly a sphere, from two to three inches in diameter, and bright rose color when fully ripe. The seeds are two-thirds of an inch long. The smooth, light gray bark is usually less than a quarter of an inch thick. Large trees are forty or fifty feet high and twenty inches in diameter. It is not considered valuable for lumber, because of scarcity and small size. The wood is considerably heavier than yellow poplar, and is hard but not strong; light brown in color with thick, light yellow sapwood. Reports do not show that the wood is put to any use. Planted trees are hardy as far north as Massachusetts, and success has attended the tree’s introduction in the parks and gardens of southern Europe.
Yellow Flowered Cucumber Tree (Magnolia acuminata cordata) is usually considered a variety of the common cucumber tree, rather than a separate species. The most noticeable feature is the yellow blossom which gives the names by which it is generally known, among such being yellow-flowered magnolia, and yellow cucumber tree. It is not a garden variety, for it grows wild; but it has been cultivated during more than a century, and has undergone changes which are not matched by wild trees. The finest forms of the forest variety are found on the Blue Ridge in South Carolina, and in central Alabama. The cultivated tree is distinguished by its darker green leaves, and by its smaller, bright, canary-yellow flowers. The variety has no value as a timber tree, but is widely appreciated as an ornament. Cultivated trees generally remain small in size, and do not develop the long, clean trunks common with the cucumber tree under forest conditions.
Umbrella Tree (Magnolia tripetala) is one of the magnolias and should not be confounded with the Asiatic umbrella tree often planted in yards. The flower is surrounded by a whorl of leaves resembling an umbrella, hence the name. It is also known as cucumber, magnolia, and elkwood. The range of the tree extends from Pennsylvania to Alabama and west to Arkansas. It prefers the margins of swamps and the rich soil along mountain streams. Leaves are eighteen inches long and half as wide. They fall in autumn. Flowers are cup-shaped and creamy-white. The fruit somewhat resembles that of the common cucumber tree, but is rose colored when fully ripe. Trees are thirty or forty feet high and a foot or more in diameter. The brown heartwood is light, soft, and weak, and is used little or not at all for commercial purposes. The tree is cultivated for ornament in the northern states and in Europe.
Cucumber branch
