CHAP. LXI. 



CORNA'CE^. CO'RNUS. 



1017 



therefore be kept a year in the rotting ground, as directed for haws, and holly 

 berries. (Seep. 313.) Plants are also raised from layers and suckers. If a 

 variety, with the fruit of superior quality, could be discovered in the woods of 

 France, or in the ancient gardens of convents and chateaus, which still exist 

 in some places in Germany, it would be desirable to continue such a variety 

 by grafting ; and this mode is also applicable to the varieties with wax-coloured 

 fruit, with white fruit, with fleshy round fruit, and with variegated leaves, men- 

 tioned by Du Hamel. The situation for the cornel tree should be open, but 

 sheltered rather than exposed ; and the soil ought to be good, and more or less 

 calcareous. 



S/atistics. In the environs of London, there are plants in the arboretum at Kew 15 ft. high ; and 

 others.of similardimensions, at Purser's Cross, Ham House, and some other places : but, all these trees 

 being crowded among others, they seldom produce fruit. Between Hampstead and Hendon, in the 

 garden of a villa occupied by Lord Henley, there is a tree which produces fruit annually. The only 

 return which we have had of this tree, from any part of England, is from Grimston, in York- 

 shire, where a tree, 14 years planted, is '■20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 7 in., and of the head 

 14 ft. Phillips, in his ft//. Flor., p. 1S6., mentions two trees at Cowfold in Sussex, of the size of 

 moderate cherry or apple trees, which had been abundant bearers for upwards of 30 years. On the 

 Continent, and especially in the south of Germany, most old gardens contain one or two speci- 

 mens of this tree. On October 23. 1828, when we were on a journey from Uonaueschingen to 

 Bavaria, we stopped to look at the gardens of the ancient Chateau of Maskirch ; and, in a small 

 enclosure close to the chateau, we found a labyrinth, the hedge of which consisted entirely of C6rnus 

 mas, with standard trees of the same species at regular distances, which were at that time bearing 

 ripe fruit, which we tasted, and found of very good flavour. Later in the same year, we were 

 shown, in the grounds of the Castle of Heidelberg, the famous cornelian cherry trees which were 

 l)lanted there in 1650, already mentioned, p. 147. 



5f 10. C. flo'rida L. The Florida Dogwood. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 16fil. ; L'Herit. Corn., No. 3. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 400. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 



Synonymc. Virginian Dogwood. 



Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 526. ; Catesb. Car., t. 27. ; Bigel. Med. Bot., 2. t. 28. ; Guirap. Abb Holz 



t. 19. ; Rafin. Med. Bot., t. 28. ; Schmidt Baum., 2. t. 52. : Wang. Beytr., 1. t. 17. f 41 • and our 



fig. 769. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Branches shining. Leaves ovate, acuminated, pale beneath, 

 beset with adpressed 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 "reen- 

 ish yellow, and very large. Pomes scarlet, about half the size of those of 

 C. mas ; ripe in August. {Don's Mill., iii. p. 400.) It is a native of North 

 America, from Carolina to Canada, in woods, common ; and on the banks 

 of the Columbia, near its confluence with the sea> A tree, growing to the 

 height of 20ft. or 30 ft. It was introduced in 1731, and flowers in April 

 and May. 



Desa'iption. Cornus florida is universally allowed 

 to be the handsomest species of the genus. In its 

 native country, it forms a tree reaching, in the most 

 favourable situations, 30 ft. or 35 ft. in height, with a 

 trunk 9 in. or 10 in. in diameter; but, in general, it 

 does not exceed the height of 18 ft. or 20 ft., with a 

 trunk of 4 in. or 5 in. in diameter. Michaux describes 

 the trunk as " strong, and covered with a blackisli 

 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 

 on other trees, and are regularly disposed, nearly in 

 the form of crosses. The young twigs are observed 



to incline upwards in a semicircular direction. The leaves are opposite, about 

 Sin. in length, oval, of a dark green above, and whitish beneath; the upper sur- 

 face is very distinctly sulcated. Towards the close of summer, they are often 

 marked with black spots; and at the approach of winter they change to a dull 

 red. In New York and New Jersey, the flowers are fully expanded about the 

 10th or 15th of May, when the leaves are only beginning to unfold themselves. 

 Theflowers are small, yellowish, and connected in bunches, which are surrounded 

 with a very large involucre, composed of 4 white floral leaves, sometimes in- 

 clining to violet. This fine involucre constitutes all the beauty of the flowers. 



