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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