388 



CORNUS 



Although this cornel has been in cultivation at least thirty years, the 

 name " controversa " was only given to it by Mr Hemsley in 1909 (see 

 Kew Bulletin for that year, p. 332). Previously it had been known in England 

 as "C. brachypoda," and on the Continent as "C. macrophylla," in both cases 

 erroneously, as these are synonymous terms for an opposite-leaved cornel 

 (C. macrophylla, Wallich q.v.). It will no doubt take some time to straighten 

 out the confusion in gardens, but the matter is simply stated thus : 



Tree with opposite leaves is C. macrophylla. 

 Tree with alternate leaves is C. controversa. 



The name " C. brachypoda " disappears as a synonym. 



CORNUS FLORIDA. 



C. FLORIDA, Limiaus. FLOWERING DOGWOOD. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 526.) 



A deciduous, wide-spreading, small tree, 10 to 20 ft. high in cultivation, 

 but occasionally twice as high in some parts of its native habitat ; young 

 shoots soon becoming smooth. Leaves opposite, broadly oval or ovate ; 

 3 to 6 ins, long, \\ to 3 ins. wide ; rounded or tapered at the base, the 

 apex with a short, abrupt, slender point ; dark green and with scattered 

 down above ; pale, rather glaucous and downy beneath ; stalk j to f in. long. 

 Flowers insignificant, J in. long, produced in a crowded head ^ in. across, 

 green tipped with yellow,, The^real beauty of the plant is in the four bracts 

 that form in autumn and enclose the flower-head during the winter, expanding 

 in May. These bracts are inversely heart-shaped, the apex broad, rounded 

 and notched, white, \\ to 2 ins. long, the whole forming a showy, corolla- 

 like involucre 3 to 4 ins. across, commonly called the "flower." 



Native of the eastern United States", where it is generally distributed from 

 Massachusetts southwards ; introduced in the early part of the eighteenth 

 century, and cultivated by Thos. Fairchild in his nursery at Hoxton in 1730. 

 There is also evidence of its having been grown by Miller at Chelsea in 1739. 

 Although really a very hardy shrub so far as its capability of supporting 



