Genus CORNUS, L. (Dogwood.) 



From a Greek word meaning horn, because of the hardness of the wood. 



Fig. 68. Flowering Dogwood, Cornel. C. flbrida, L, 

 Leaves, SIMPLE ; OPPOSITE ; EDGE ENTIRE. 



Outline, egg-shape, or often broad oval, or reverse egg- 

 shape. Apex, pointed, often taper-pointed. Base, 

 pointed and usually slightly unequal. 



Leaf-stem, short (about one half inch). 



Leaf, three to five inches long ; smooth above ; pale and 

 nearly smooth beneath ; with the whitish ribs very 

 distinct and curved. 



Bark of trunk, blackish and rough, with short, broken 

 ridges. The bark, especially of the roots, is very 

 bitter and is used as a tonic. 



Flowers. The real flowers are greenish-yellow, in a small, 

 rounded bunch ; but this bunch is surrounded by 

 four large, petal-like leaves, white and often tinged 

 with pink, more than an inch in length, reverse egg- 

 shaped, and ending in a hard, abruptly turned point. 

 The appearance is of a single large flower. The tree 

 blossoms in May before the leaves are fully set. 



Fruit. The " flower " is succeeded by a bunch of oval 

 berries that turn bright red as they ripen, making the 

 tree in the autumn, with its richly changing foliage, 

 nearly as attractive as in the spring. 



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