CORNUS 385 



Var. SP^ETHII, Wittmack. Spaeth's Cornel. Undoubtedly the handsomest 

 of all the variegated cornels, and perhaps the most effective of all deciduous, 

 yellow-variegated shrubs in cultivation. A mass on a lawn has a most striking 

 aspect all the summer through, for the plant has the great virtue of never 

 having its foliage scorched by summer sun, although the major part of the leaf 

 is bright yellow ; nor does it become dull as the season advances, like many 

 shrubs of this colour do. When visiting Mr Spaeth's nursery at Rixdorf, near 

 Berlin, a few years ago, I was told that this remarkable shrub originated there 

 on a stem of ordinary Cornus alba, on which had been grafted a scion of the 

 variegated sort. The graft died, but just beneath the point of union a yellow 

 variegated twig appeared, which was removed and propagated, and is the var. 

 Spaethii as we know it to-day. The bark is red in winter. The shrub does not 

 need a very -rich soil, and like the rest of the forms of C. alba, can be propagated 

 by cuttings of leafless wood placed in the open ground in late autumn, or by 

 late summer leafy shoots under glass. The outer branches can be easily 

 layered. 



Var. VARIEGATA (argenteo-marginata). Leaves margined with creamy 

 white. The variegated form of var. sibirica is less vigorous, and often 

 preferable. 



C. ALTERNIFOLIA, Linn&US. 



A deciduous shrub, sometimes with a cluster of erect stems, sometimes a 

 small tree 20 ft. or so high in a wild state, flat-topped and with horizontal 

 branches ; young shoots smooth. Leaves alternate, often aggregated at the 

 end of the shoot, oval or ovate, tapered at both ends, the apex often slender- 

 pointed ; 2 to 5 ins. long, I to 2^ ins. wide ; bright pale green and smooth 

 above, more or less glaucous and furnished with centrally attached flattened 

 hairs beneath ; stalk I to 2 ins. long ; veins in five or six pairs. Flowers 

 yellowish white, small, numerous, of little beauty, produced during June in 

 flattish cymes 2 to 2^ ins. across ; flower-stalks downy. Fruit roundish, J in. 

 diameter, black with a blue bloom. 



Native of Eastern N. America ; introduced in 1760. Although this species 

 comes from as far north as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and therefore 

 capable of withstanding intense cold, it is not infrequently a failure in this 

 country, probably owing to insufficiency of sunlight. Its alternate leaves 

 distinguish it from all other cornels except C. controversa, which is a much 

 larger, tree with cymes twice as large, and leaves with usually one to three 

 more pairs of veins. 



C. AMOMUM, Miller. 



A deciduous shrub of compact habit, up to 10 ft. high ; young bark downy, 

 becoming purple. Leaves ovate, mostly rounded at the base, with short, 

 abrupt points ; 2 to 4 ins. long, I to 2j ins. wide ; dark green and soon 

 becoming smooth above, paler and with rusty or silky down beneath, especially 

 on the veins ; stalks similarly downy, $ to f in. long ; veins in four to seven 

 pairs. Flowers small, yellowish white, produced in July in cymes \\ to T.\ ins. 

 across. Fruit \ in. across, pale blue. 



Native of Eastern N. America ; introduced in 1683. A shrub thriving well 

 in our climate, but of no especial value. Its distinctive characters are its 

 purple young wood, the silky reddish down beneath the leaf, and the pale blue 

 fruits. 



C. PURPUSil, Koehne, is a close ally, or perhaps form of the above, found in 

 the same region; the leaves are narrower than in C. Amomum, glaucous and 

 minutely warted beneath ; the down beneath is greyish, not rusty; veins in 

 about five pairs. Young shoots yellowish red to purplish. Fruit dull blue. 



2 B 



