Cornus Jlorida, 
THE FLOWERY DOGWOOD. 
Synonymes. 
Cornus jlorida, 
Cornouiller a grandes fleurs, Cornouiller 
fleuri, Bois de chien, 
Bliihender Hartriegel, Bliihender Horn- 
strauch, 
Florida Dogwood, Virginian Dogwood, 
Dogwood, New-England Box -wood, 
Linnaeus, Species Plantarum. 
Miciiaux, Nonh American Sylva. 
Loudon, Arboretum Bntannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Britain. 
United States. 
Derivations. The specific name Jlorida, is derived from the Latin fiorto, to blossom, in allusion to the profusion of 
flowers which this tree puts forth. The French and German names are derived from the botanic one. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 48 ; Bigelow, Medical Botany, ii., pi. 28; Audubon, Birds of America, i., 
pi. viii. et lxxiii. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 769; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Branches shining. Leaves ovate, acuminated, pale beneath, beset with appressed 
hairs on both surfaces. Flowers umbellate, protruded after the leaves. Leaves of involucre large, 
roundish, retuse, or nearly obcordate. Pomes ovate. Leaves of involucre white. Flowers greenish- 
yellow, and very large. Pomes scarlet, about half the size of those of C. mas. Don, Miller's Diet. 
Description. 
"Cropp'd the fair bloom with which young Spring adorna 
The flow'ring Cornua." 
Traits of the Aborigines. 
F all the species of the 
i genus, the Cornus flor- 
P ida is allowed to be the 
gS^ most beautiful. In its 
natural habitat, when grown under favourable 
circumstances, it forms a tree, attaining a 
height of thirty to thirty-five feet, with a trunk 
nine or ten inches in diameter ; but, in general, 
it does not much exceed one half of these 
dimensions. The trunk is covered with a 
blackish bark, chopped into many small por- 
tions, which are often in the shape of squares 
more or less exact. The branches, which are 
not so numerous as on most other trees, are reg- 
ularly disposed, with their young twigs inclining 
upwards in a semi-circular direction. The leaves 
are opposite, about three inches in length, ovate, 
acuminated, of a dark-green above, and whit- 
ish beneath, with the upper surface very dis- 
tinctly sulcated. Towards the close of summer, they are often marked with 
black spots; and at the approach of winter they change to dull-red. The flow- 
ers, which appear in Florda in March, and in New York in May, are small, yel- 
lowish, and connected in bunches, surrounded with a very large involucre, com- 
posed of four white floral leaves, sometimes inclining to violet. This fine involucre 
constitutes the chief beauty of the flowers, which are vptv nnmprou<5 and whi^ 1. 
