DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERING SHRUBS. 407 



Cornus alternifdlia. Alternate-leaved Cornel. " A 

 beautiful shrub, six or eight feet high ; sometimes a grace- 

 ful small tree, of fifteen, twenty, or even twenty-five feet 

 high, throwing off, at one or more points, several branch- 

 es, which, slightly ascending, diverge, and form nearly 

 horizontal umbrageous stages, or flats of leaves, so closely 

 arranged as to give almost a perfect shade. Recent 

 shoots, of a shining light yellowish-green, with oblong 

 scattered dots. The older branches, of a rich polished 

 green, striped with gray. Flowers in an irregularly 

 branched head, yellowish-white ; fruit, blue-black. A 

 beautiful plant, with a variety of character. It grows nat- 

 urally in most woods, or on the sides of hills ; but, when 

 cultivated, flourishes in almost any kind of soil, and even 

 in dry situations. It flowers in May and June, and the 

 fruit ripens in October." 



C. florid a, The Flowering Dogwood. This species is 

 more of a tree than any of those described, and one of 

 the most desirable of all the genus. It is a conspicuous 

 object, in some of our woods, the last of May. The tree 

 is then loaded with a profusion of its large, showy, white 

 flowers, which are produced at the ends of the branches. 

 What is generally taken for the flower is not in reality 

 such. The flowers are small, and without much interest, 

 except to the botanist. Twelve or more of them are 

 clustered together in a head, and surrounded by a whorl 

 of four large white floral leaves, which constitutes the 

 principal beauty of the flower. These floral leaves are 

 nerved, somewhat heart-shaped, shaded with flesh color, 

 or purple ; the fruit is of a bright scarlet. 



" The leaves early begin to change to purple, and turn 

 to a rich scarlet, or crimson, above, with a light-russet be- 

 neath ; or to crimson and buff, or orange ground, above, 

 with a glaucous-purple beneath. These, surrounding the 

 scarlet bunches of berries, make the tree as beautiful an 



