DOGWOOD OR CORNEL 191 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



133. Caucalis Anthriscus, Huds. Stem tall, slender, rigid, purplish, 

 rough, leaves hairy, bipinnate, flowers purplish then white, in umbel, 

 with general involucre of many leaves, fruit hooked with incurved 

 bristles. 



Dogwood or Cornel (Cornus sanguinea, L.) 



A familiar tree or shrub along our waysides, Cornel occurs in 

 Preglacial, Interglacial, and Neolithic deposits. It is distributed to- 

 day throughout Europe, Siberia, and Western Asia, in the Temperate 

 Zone. It is found throughout the Peninsula, Channel, Thames, Anglia 

 and Severn provinces in this country. In Wales it is found in Gla- 

 morgan, Brecon, Pembroke, Montgomery, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, 

 Anglesea, and in the Trent, Mersey, H umber, Tyne, and Lakes 

 provinces, except in the Isle of Man. It is a native in N. and W. 

 Ireland. 



Cornel or Dogwood is a common hedgerow shrub, taking the place 

 of Hawthorn in some places, and is associated with Spindle Tree, 

 Field Maple, Sloe, Crab, Brambles, Dog Rose, Elder, Ash, Spurge, 

 Laurel, Elm and other hedgerow shrubs and trees. It is also found 

 in woods, plantations, and copses, being frequently planted there, and 

 in gardens. No shrub is more characteristic of the hedgerow than 

 Cornel, with its red stems and deeply-veined egg-shaped leaves. 



The wood is very hard. The plant is bushy, with erect branches, 

 with acute egg-shaped, opposite leaves, cuspidate, tapered gradually 

 to a sharp point, nearly heart-shaped below, and stalked. 



The flowers are yellowish or creamy-white, and are arranged in 

 flattened naked cymes, without any leaf-like organs. There is no 

 involucre. The 4 calyx-teeth are minute, the petals in bud valvate. 

 The fruit is purple. 



Cornel reaches a height of 8 ft. It is flowering usually in June 

 and July. It is a deciduous shrub, which can be multiplied by means 

 of layers. 



A fleshy ring at the base of the style secretes the honey, which 

 lies exposed on a flat surface, and is more easily reached by short- 

 lipped insects, e.g. Diptera, than by bees. The anthers and stigma 

 develop together and open inwards, and are level with the centre or 

 stigma at a little distance. An insect that alights on the flowers, and 

 bends its head down to the fleshy disk, usually touches the stigma 

 with one side of the head or body and one or two anthers with the 

 other. In passing from flower to flower it cross-pollinates them, 



