THE DOGWOOD 



219 



localities, often at long distances from where the parent 

 tree grew. Many times flocks of hungry cedar birds 

 have been seen in the winter hurriedly flying into one 

 of these dogwood trees, laden with its scarlet berries, 

 there to bolt these down. As is known the berries, while 

 attractive to the eye, contain but little nutriment beneath 

 their skins. 



Thousands of ruthless hands break off the branches of 

 the Flowering Dogwood during the months of May and 



FLOWERING DOGWOOD BLOSSOMS SHOWING TRUE FLOWERS 



BUNCHED IN CENTER 

 Fig. 3. — Three full flowers of the Common Dogwood (Cortius florida), the two 

 larger ones being quite perfect. The several true, small flowers are bunched 

 together in the center, in open, naked cymes. The four surrounding, petal-like 

 white leaves form a false corolla, and is known as an involucre. A true corolla 

 formed of petals is seen in such a flower as the common buttercup, where they 

 are yellow. Note the curious notches in the middle of the outer border of these 

 pseudo petals — an ever-present character in these blossoms. 



June, and this easily accounts, not only for its steady dis- 

 appearance at this time, but for the poor, mutilated ex- 

 amples of this splendid shrub so often seen by the road- 

 sides, or at short distances from them in the woods. 



Thoreau says that when the farmers in some parts of 

 New England hear the notes of the brown thrasher in 

 April about corn-planting time, they translate them to 

 mean "drop it, drop it — cover it up, cover it up — pull it 

 up, pull it up"; but they will not heed this advice until 

 satisfied of its soundness through observing that the 

 Flowering Dogwood is in full bloom. 



Many insects are responsible for the fertilization of the 

 dogwood flowers, especially certain butterflies, bees and 

 flies — a fact any one may observe by simply selecting some 

 dogwood tree in the spring, when it is in full flower, and 

 watching the nimierous insects that visit it. 



The wood of the flowering dogwood is very smooth, 

 close-grained, and hard, and owing to these qualities, it 



has been extensively used for making toothpicks. It has 

 been called prick-wood or skewer-wood, as it has long 

 been used to make butchers' skewers in some parts of the 

 country. An authority at hand says that this wood "is 

 so exceptionally free from silex that watchmakers use 

 small splinters of it for cleaning out the pivot-holes of 

 watches, and opticians for removing dust from small, 

 deep-seated lenses." Medical works state that the bark 

 as well as the root of this species is used in the United 

 States as a substitute for Peruvian bark in cases of fever. 

 There is scarcely any grit in its wood, and it is therefore 

 useful for making bobbins and shuttles for weaving; for 

 still other uses the cabinet maker will use no other wood. 

 Other species of Cornels do not come in here, for the reason 

 that they are mere plants, never even attaining the size 

 of a small shrub. 



There are two kinds of dog\vood in which the fruit is 

 blue, associated with other distinguishing characters; 

 these are the Round-leaved Cornel or Dogwood, and the 

 Silky Cornel or Kinnikinic, the first being the Cornns cir- 

 cinata of science, and the other the Cormts amomum. We 

 may find the round-leaved species from Nova Scotia to 



BUMBLE BEES DELIGHT IN VISITING DOGWOOD FLOWERS 



Fig. 4. — Two flowers of the Common Dogwood (Cornus jlorida), seen upon 

 side view. This picture shows a number of the young leaves about a week after 

 they have started to grow. They are thick, pale green, and lanceolate in out- 

 line. This specimen was obtained very early one cold spring morning, and the 

 bumble-bee in the upper flower was so chilled that he never so much as moved 

 during the operation of photographing it. 



Virginia and Iowa, westward to North Dakota. It is a 

 shrub that may grow to be some nine or ten feet high, 

 occurring chiefly in open forests and on hillsides where 

 the sun rarely penetrates. It favors rocky localities, and 

 may sometimes be found growing along roadsides. Its 

 twigs are greenish, and curious waxy growths may be dis- 

 covered upon them. Examine the leaves, and they will 

 be found to be woolly upon their under sides. In shape 



