218 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the Dwarf Conicl or Bunchbcny, which not only has 

 a range from Maine southward to New Jersey, and 

 westward to California, but is known to occur in the 

 White Mountains and Adirondacks at elevations rang- 

 ing up to 4000 feet. Its center of abundance is in the 

 rich, damp woods of New Jersey, where it is well known; 

 and, as its beautiful, red berries are very conspicuous in 

 the fall, it is likely that people there gather and eat them, 

 as it is a well-known fact that they are quite edible. Smallest 

 of all the cornels, it blooms in June, in the center of its 

 range; its tiny and 

 greenish flowers are 

 centered in a bunch 

 as in the Flowering 

 Dogwood, and they 

 are, as in the latter, 

 surrounded by a 

 pointed, four- to 

 six-leaved involucre 

 resembling true pet- 

 als. Gray says that 

 the leaves and invo- 

 lucre may be, indeed 

 often are, variously 

 colored ; and Math- 

 ews remarks that 

 "the leaves are 

 light yellow-green, 

 broadly ovate, 

 pointed, toothless, 

 and deeply marked 

 by about 5 — 7 

 nearly parallel, 

 curving ribs; they 

 are set in circles." 

 After one knows this 

 attractive plant, it 

 will never be for- 

 gotten, so striking 

 are its characters. 

 Neltje Blanch an 

 says that the tight 

 clusters of round 

 berries are lifted 

 upward on a grad- 

 ually lengthened 

 peduncle after they 

 fade, and in some of 

 the popular bota- 

 nies they are figured 

 in that way ; in fact, 

 one author has even 

 figtu'ed the flowers 

 and in\-oIucre upon 

 such an elevated 

 stem, describing it 

 so in the text. This 

 is an interesting 

 point to settle with 

 respect to the 



BEAUTIFUL DOGWOOD FLOWERS IN EARLY SPRING 



Fig. 2. — This picture presents an e.\ample of Dogwood {Cormis jlorida) in full blossom; it was collected 

 at Thrifton, Virginia. They arc here represented about one-sixth natural proportions; the leaves are 

 few, but of some size, as it was obtained during the middle of May (1915). 



bunchberry. Gray says not a word about the flowers 

 and their involucre being borne on a stem above the 

 whorl of leaves. 



Around Quebec and in Newfoundland, and as far 

 northward as Alaska and Greenland, there is another 

 species of dog\vood (C. suecia), which is very much like 

 the bimchbcrry but slenderer; it flourishes upon the head- 

 lands and cliffs, and it is probable that but few botanists 

 have seen it growing in nature. 



Reference has already been made to the Common Cor- 

 nel or Dogwood. It 

 is the Cornns florida 

 of the books, and 

 it is found in dry 

 woods from south- 

 cm Mjaine and 

 Minnesota n o r t fa- 

 ward to Ontario 

 and southward to 

 Texas and Florida. 

 It may occasionally 

 become quite a sub- 

 stantial tree, as will 

 be appreciated by 

 a study of Fig. 1 

 illustrating this 

 article. If the in- 

 volucre is regarded 

 here as the four 

 petals of a flower, 

 more than two 

 thousand flowers 

 can be counted on 

 this tree; but, as a 

 matter of fact, each 

 involucre surrounds 

 many flowers (see 

 Fig. 3) , therefore 

 there are in reality 

 many thousands of 

 flowers upon such a 

 growth . Some dog- 

 wood trees are fully 

 forty feet in height. 

 Not a few of 

 the winter birds in 

 the North Atlantic 

 and New England 

 States feed upon 

 the brilliantly red 

 berries of this dog- 

 wood ; and the hard 

 seeds being indi- 

 _<;c'stible, they are 

 certain to b e 

 dropped far and 

 wide in other for- 

 ests and woods, the 

 species thus being 

 distributed in new 



