CORNACE^E. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 215 



on both sides, whitish underneath ; cymes small and flat, rather few-flowered, 

 smooth ; fruit white or lead-color. Wet places ; common, especially north- 

 ward. Multiplies freely by prostrate or subterranean suckers, and forms broad 

 clumps, 3-6 high. June. 



7. C. Stricta, Lam. (STIFF CORNEL.) A shrub 8- 15 high; branches 

 brownish or reddish, smooth; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, 

 acutish at base, glabrous, of nearly the same hue both sides ; cymes loose, Cattish ; 

 anthers and fruit pale blue. Swamps, Va. to Ga. and Fla. April, May. 



8. C. paniculataj L'Her. (PANICLED CORNEL.) Shrub 4-8 high, 

 much branched ; branches gray, smooth ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, 

 acute at base, whitish beneath but not 'downy; cijincs convex, loose, often paui- 

 cled ; fruit white, depressed-globose. Thickets and river-banks. June. 



9. C. altemifdlia, L. f. Shrub or tree 8-25 high; branches greenish 

 streaked with white, the alternate leaves clustered at the ends, ovate or oval, long- 

 pointed, acute at base, whitish and minutely pubescent beneath ; cymes very 

 broad and open ; fruit deep blue on reddish stalks. Hillsides in copses, N. 

 Brunswick to Minn., south to Ga. and Ala. May, June. 



2. N Y S S A, L. TUPELO. PEPPERIDGE. SOUR-GUM TREE. 



Flowers dioeciously polygamous, clustered or rarely solitary at the summit 

 of axillary peduncles. Stain. Fl. numerous in a simple or compound dense 

 cluster of fascicles. Calyx small, 5-parted. Petals as in fertile flower or none. 

 Stamens 5-12, oftener 10, inserted on the outside of a convex disk; filaments 

 slender ; anthers short. No pistil. Pist. Fl. solitary, or 2 - 8, sessile in a bracted 

 cluster, much larger than the staminate flowers. Calyx with a very short re- 

 pand-truucate or minutely 5-toothed limb. Petals very small and fleshy, decidu- 

 ous, or often wanting. Stamens 5-10, with perfect or imperfect anthers. Style 

 elongated, revolute, stigmatic down one side. Ovary 1 -celled. Drupe ovoid 

 or oblong, with a bony and grooved or striate 1-celled and 1 -seeded stone. 

 Trees with entire or sometimes angulate-toothed leaves, which are alternate, 

 but mostly crowded at the ends of the branchlets, and greenish flowers appear- 

 ing with the leaves. (The name of a Nymph : " so called because it [the 

 original species] grows in the water.") 



1. N. sylvatica, Marsh. (TUPELO. PEPPERIDGE. BLACK or SOUR 

 GUM.) Middle-sized tree, with horizontal branches ; leaves oval or obovate, 

 commonly acuminate, glabrous or villous-pubescent when young, at least on 

 the margins and midrib, shining above when old (2-5' long); fertile flowers 

 3 - 8, at the summit of a slender peduncle ; fruit ovoid, acid, bluish-black (about 

 I' long). (N. multiflora, Wang.) Rich soil, either moist or nearly dry, 

 S. Maine and N. Vt. to Mich., south to Fla. and Tex. April, May. Leaves 

 turning bright crimson in autumn. Wood firm, close-grained and very un- 

 wedgeable, on account of the oblique direction and crossing of its fibres. 



2. N. uniflora, Wang. (LARGE TUPELO.) A large tree; leaves ob- 

 long or ovate, sometimes slightly cordate at base, long-petioled, entire or an- 

 gulate-toothed, pale and downy-pubescent beneath, at least when young (4- 12' 

 long) ', fertile flower solitary on a slender peduncle ; /h</ oblong, blue (V or 

 more in length). Deep swamps, S. Va. to S. 111. and Mo., south to Fla. and 

 Tex. April. Wood soft ; that of the roots very light and spongy. 



