214 CORNACEAE 



ported also from sandy areas in Will, Kane and Jo Daviess 

 counties in the extreme northern part of the state. Possibly 

 the southern records for Pope and Hardin counties apply to 

 C. asperifolia through mistaken identification. 



CORNUS AMOMUM Miller 

 Silky Dogwood 



The Silky Dogwood, fig. 56, is an erect shrub 4 to 10 feet 

 high, with brown, pubescent branchlets and ovate to oblong 

 leaves. The leaf blades usually are 2 to 5 inches long by 1/^ 

 to 114 inches wide, abruptly acute to short-acuminate at the 

 apex, and usually narrowed, though sometimes rounded, at 

 the base. The surface is glabrous or somewhat sparingly pu- 

 bescent above with appressed hairs, but the underside is covered 

 with long, appressed, reddish hairs. This reddish covering, 

 which usually is dense, is one of the most striking charac- 

 teristics of the species. The petioles are short, somewhat more 

 than 14 vcvch long as a rule, and are pubescent at least on the 

 upper side. 



The flowers, which appear in June, are borne in pubescent, 

 cymose inflorescences, which are covered by both colorless and 

 reddish hairs. The fruit, which matures in autumn, is globose 

 and bluish. 



Distribution. — The Silky Dogwood, which prefers low 

 woods about ponds and lakes and along streams, ranges from 

 Newfoundland to Florida and Kentucky. In Illinois, in its 

 typical form and in the variation sometimes called C. obliqua 

 Rafinesque, it ranges throughout the state and is the most 

 widely collected and frequently reported of the dogwoods. 



CORNUS ASPERIFOLIA Michaux 



Rough leaf Dogwood 



The Roughleaf Dogwood, fig. 56, is an erect shrub, or at 

 times a small tree with a spreading top, which stands as high 

 as 18 feet and has trunks or stems 3 to 4 inches in diameter. 

 The branches are reddish brown at first but become gray, 

 while the branchlets, at first greenish, soon become reddish 

 brown. They are woolly or closely pubescent with colorless, 

 long hairs, among which some reddish ones occur. The oppo- 



