EARLY-FLOWERING SHRUBS. 



29 



which should be confused with the so-called poison 

 dogwood (Rhus venenata) * belonging to quite a dif- 

 ferent family (Cashew), which includes the sumachs. 

 The true dogwoods of the family Cornacece are not 

 poisonous. The handsom- 

 est member of the group 

 is the flowering dog- 

 wood (Cornus florida), 

 which bears a large 

 flower with four 

 notched, petallike, 

 showy white leaf- 

 lets set around 

 the tiny greenish 

 florets. The flow- 

 ers appear in 

 May before the 

 leaves are fully out; they are succeeded in the fall 

 by small bunches of bright-red, oval berries. This 

 species differs from the others in not having a flat 

 panicle of small blossoms ; it grows at least twelve 

 feet high. 



The very opposite in character of growth from 

 the preceding is the little dwarf cornel or bunch- 

 berry (C. Canadensis) ; this tiny plant creeps along 



Flowering Dogwood. 



* See page 176. 



