This order was divided by De Candolle into two tribes: viz. _Illicieæ_, the Aniseed tribe; and _Magnolieæ_, the Magnolia tribe. The first, which is now made a distinct order, under the name of Winteraceæ, contains three genera, only one of which, Illicium, is common in this country. The only hardy species of this genus, _I. floridanum_, the Florida Aniseed tree, has very dark purple flowers, which appear to be double from the great number of the petals, which are from twenty to thirty. The carpels are also numerous, and arranged so as to form a star. All the plants in this tribe are highly aromatic, and one species, _Drimys Winteri_, which has white fragrant flowers, produces an aromatic bark that is used in medicine.
The tribe Magnolieæ is distinguished by the fruit consisting of a number of carpels arranged so as to form a cone. There are six genera in this order, the most remarkable of which are Magnolia, Liriodendron, Talauma, and Michelia, the last genus consisting of stove trees, with very fragrant flowers, which are generally of a pale yellow, and only one species of which, _M. Champaca_, has been introduced.
Of these genera Magnolia is undoubtedly the best known; as nearly all the species are common in British gardens. This genus is divided into two sections, one containing the American Magnolias, and the other those from Asia, which are principally from China and Japan.
[Illustration: FIG. 104.--FLOWER OF MAGNOLIA CONSPICUA OPENED TO SHOW THE STAMENS AND PISTIL.]
The latter may be illustrated by _Magnolia conspicua_, sometimes called _M. Yulan_. The flower-buds are inclosed in a brown hairy case formed of two short bracts which become loose at the base, and are pushed off by the expanding flower. The flower itself (see _fig._ 104) is cup-shaped, and it is divided into six white fleshy petals. The calyx consists of three sepals,--which fall off soon after the petals expand. In the centre of the flower is the receptacle, drawn up into a fleshy cone, with a great number of carpels attached to it, each of which has one cell containing two ovules, and a curved stigma. Around this cone grow the stamens, with very long anthers standing up like palisades, and very short thick filaments. The fruit is oval, with the ovaries somewhat distant from each other. The flowers appear before the leaves. The other Asiatic species are _M. gracilis_ or _Kobus_, _M. discolor_, _obovata_, or _purpurea_, and _M. fuscata_; the former two forming handsome shrubs in the open ground, and having cup-shaped flowers which are white within and purplish on the outside, and the latter being a greenhouse plant, with brown very fragrant flowers.