DENDROLOGY. 



141 



CORNUS. 



Tetrandria Monogynia. Linn. Caprifoliae. Juss, 



Tonic, cathartic. 



Dogwood. Cornus florida. 



The Dogwood is first seen 

 in Massachusetts and New 

 Hampshire, between the 42d 

 and 43d degrees of latitude, 

 and in proceeding southward, 

 it is met with uninterruptedly 

 throughout the Eastern and 

 Western States, and the 

 Floridas, to the banks of the 

 Mississippi. Over this vast 

 extent of country, it is one 

 of the most common trees, 

 and it abounds particularly 

 in New Jersey, Pennsylva- 

 nia, Maryland and Virginia, 

 wherever the soil is moist, 

 gravelly and somewhat unea- 

 ven ; farther south, in the Carolinas, Georgia and the Floridas, it 

 is found only on the borders of swamps. In the most fertile 

 districts of Kentucky and West Tennessee it does not appear in 

 the forests except where the soil is gravelly and of a midling 

 quality. In the United States at large, it is known by the name 

 of Dogwood, and in Connecticut it is also called Box Wood. 



The dogwood sometimes reaches 30 or 35 feet in height, and 

 9 or 10 inches in diameter ; but it does not generally exceed the 

 height of 18 or 20 feet, and the diameter of 4 or 5 inches. The 

 trunk is strong, and is covered with a blackish bark, chapped 

 into many small portions, which are often in the shape of squares 

 more or less exact. The branches are proportionally less 

 numerous than other trees, and are regularly disposed nearly in 

 the formof crosses. The young twigs are observed to incline 



plate xxin. 



Fig. 1. A leaf. Fig. 2. The seed. 



