CORNACE,E. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 185 



opposite (except No. 1). Flowers iu naked spreading cymes, or capitate, and 



subtended by a colored involucre. 



* Flowers white, in a loose open cyme: involucre none. 



1. C. alternifolia, L'Herit. Leaves oval, abruptly acute at each end, 

 pale ami pubesceut beneath, long-petioled, and, like the greenish striped 

 branches, alternate; drupes deep blue. Banks of streams, Florida, and 

 uorthward. May. A widely branching shrub, or small tree. 



2. C. Stricta, Lam. Leaves ovate or oblong, abruptly acute or acu- 

 minate, smooth, whitish beneath ; cymes Hat or depressed at the summit ; 

 drupes and anthers pale blue. Swamps, Florida to North Carolina, aud west- 

 ward. April. X shrub or small tree. Branches brown. 



3. C. paniculata, L'Herit. Leaves smooth, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 paler beneath ; cymes convex at the summit, somewhat pauicled, loose-flow- 

 ered; drupes white, depressed-globose. North Carolina, aud northward. 

 May - June. Shrub 4 - 8 high. Branches gray. 



4. C. sericea, L. Leaves ovate or elliptical, smooth above, the lower 

 surface, like the purplish branches and close depressed cyme, silky-pubescent; 

 drupes pale blue. Low woods. May. Shrub 6- 10 high. 



5. C. asperifolia, Michx. Leaves short-petioled, lanceolate-ovate or ob- 

 long, acute, very rough on both sides, as well as the branchlets aud flat cymes ; 

 drupes pale blue. Dry woods, Florida to South Carolina, and westward. 

 June A shrub or small tree. Branches slender and sometimes wartv. 



6. C. Stolonifera, Michx. Stem erect or declining, with reddish purple 

 shoots ; leaves ovate, abruptly acuminate, closely pubescent, whitish beneath ; 

 cymes small, dense, smooth ; drupes white. Swamps and wet banks, Ten- 

 nessee, and northward. May. 



* * Flowers capitate, anhfpnded by a white 4-Ie.nred involucre. 



7. C. florida, L. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, at length smooth on 

 both sides ; flowers greenish ; drupes ovoid, red. Oak woods, common. 

 May. A small tree. Wood hard and close-grained. Leaves of the involucre 

 emarginate and thickened at the summit, showy. 



2. NYSSA, L. SOUR GUM. 



Flowers direcio-polygamous. Sterile flowers in many-flowered heads or 

 cymes. Calyx 5-parted. Stamens 5-10. Petals and pistil none. Fertile 

 flowers single or few in a head. Calyx limb 5 toothed or obsolete. Petals 5, 

 minute, or wanting. Stamens 5-10, mostly sterile. Style long, revolutc. 

 Stigma decurrent, Ovary 1 -celled. Drupe 1 -seeded. Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves alternate, entire or rarely toothed, finely reticulated. Flowers small, 

 greenish, on axillary or lateral peduncles. 



* Sterile flowers in loose clusters. 



1. !N". sylvatica, Marsh. Leaves oval or obovate, mostly acute, tomen- 

 tose when young, at length shining above ; fertile peduncles long and slen- 

 der, 3-8-flowered ; drupes ovoid, dark blue Eich upland woods, Florida to 



