Cornus Jlorida^ 

 THE FLOWERY DOGWOOD. 



St/nonymes. 



Comus florida, 



Cornouiller a grandes fleurs, Cornouiller 



fleuri, Bois de chipu, 

 Bluheiider Hartriegel, Bliihender Horn- 



strauch, 

 Florida Dogwood, Virginian Dogw^ood, 

 Dogwood, New-England Box-wcod, 



I LiNNiEus, Species Plantarum. 

 I MicHAUX, North American Sylva. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britaanicum. 



France. 



GERMANy. 



Britain. 

 United States. 



Derivations. The sfwcific name Jlorida, is derived from the Lalin fioreo, to blossom, in allusion to the profusion of 

 flowers which this tree puts forlh. The French and German names are derived from the botanic one. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 43; Biselow, Medical Botany, ii., pi. 28; Audubon, Birds of America, i., 

 pL viii. el Ixxiii. ; Loudor), Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 769; and the figures belovr. 



Specific Characters. Branches shining. Leaves ovate, acuminated, pale beneath, beset with appressed 

 hairs on both surfaces. Flowers umbellate, protruded after the leaves. Leaves of involucre large, 

 roundish, retuse, or nearly obcordate. Pomes ovate. Leaves of involucre white. Flowers greenish- 

 yellow, and very large. Pomes scarlet, about half the size of those of C. mas. Don, Miller's Diet. 



Desci^iption. 



"Cropp'd the fair bloom with which young Spring adorns 

 The flow'ring Cornus." 



Traits of the Aboricines. 



F all the species of the 

 J genus, the Comus fior- 

 P ida is allowed to be the 



most beautiful. In its 



natural habitat, when grown under favourable 

 circumstances, it forms a tree, attaining a 

 height of thirty to thirty-five feet, with a trunk 

 nine or ten inches in diameter; but, in general, 

 it does not much exceed one half of these 

 dimensions. The tnuik is covered with a 

 blackish bark, chopped into many small por- 

 tions, which are often in the shape of squares 

 more or less exact. The branches, which are 

 not so numerous as on most other trees, are reg- 

 ularly disposed, with their young twigs inclining 

 upwards in a semi-circular direction. The leaves 

 are opposite, about three inches in length, ovate, 

 acuminated, of a dark-green above, and whit- 

 ish beneath, with the upper surface very dis- 

 tinctly sulcated. Towards the close of summer, they are often marked with 

 black spots; and at the approach of winter they change to dull-red. The floAV- 

 ers, which appear in Florda in March, and in New York in May, are small, yel- 

 lowisli, and connected in bunches, surrounded with a very large involucre, com- 

 posed of four white floral leaves, sometimes inclining to violet. This fine involucre 

 constitutes the chief beauty of the flowers, which are very numerous, and which. 



