WHITE 



inner ones, and are without either stamens or pistils ; their only 

 part in the economy of the shrub being to form an attractive 

 setting for the cluster, and thus to allure the insect- visitors that 

 are usually so necessary to the future well-being of the species. 

 The shrub is a common one in our northern woods and moun- 

 tains. Its straggling growth, and its reclining branches, which 

 often take root in the ground, have suggested the popular 

 names of hobble-bush, and wayfaring-tree. 



ROUND-LEAVED DOGWOOD. 



Cornus circinata. Dogwood Family. 



A shrub six to ten feet high. Leaves. Rounded, abruptly pointed. 

 Flowers. Small, white, in flat, spreading clusters. Calyx. Minutely four- 

 toothed. Corolla. Of four white, oblong, spreading petals. Stamens. 

 Four. Pistil. One. Fruit. Light blue, berry-like. 



The different members of the Dogwood family are important 

 factors in the lovely pageant which delights our eyes along the 

 country lanes every spring. Oddly enough, only the smallest 

 and largest representative of the tribe (the little bunch-berry, 

 and the flowering-dogwood, which is sometimes a tree of goodly 

 dimensions), have in common the showy involucre which is 

 usually taken for the blossom itself; but which instead only sur- 

 rounds the close cluster of inconspicuous greenish flowers. 



The other members of the genus are all comprised in the 

 shrubby dogwoods ; many of these are very similar in ap- 

 pearance, bearing their white flowers in flat, spreading clusters, 

 and differing chiefly in their leaves and fruit. 



The branches of the round-leaved dogwood are greenish 

 and warty-dotted. Its fruit is light blue, and berry-like. 



The panicled dogwood, C. paniculata, may be distinguished 

 by its white fruit and smooth, gray branches. 



The red-osier dogwood, C. stolonifera, is common in wet 

 places. Its young shoots and branches are a bright purplish- 

 red. Its flower-clusters are small ; its fruit, white or lead-color. 



The bark of this genus has been considered a powerful tonic, 

 and an extract entitled " cornine," is said to possess the prop- 

 erties of quinine less strongly marked. The Chinese peel its 



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