Our tree is fairly large, but its fast growth rate makes an Olmsted provenance doubtful. A hybrid first produced in 1820, this tree has become the most popular of magnolias. Known for its profusion of large pink and white blossoms, it subsequently has red, cone-like fruit. Native to Europe, this tree has been cultivated in America since the mid 18th century, and is now naturalized here. Leaves are compound, with 7 leaflets.
Flowers are huge white cones.
The shiny brown, inedible nuts are encased in a spiny husk. The hemlock, one of our finest native conifers, is currently under siege by the hemlock woolly adelgid, an exotic sucking insect. This tree has short needles, a small cone, and heavy bark. Our specimen is a large one, probably planted by Olmsted. This spectacular four-trunked specimen is fairly old for a paper birch, but it probably does not go back beyond 1900.