200 CORXACE^E. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 



ing from the top of the cell ; the fruit a I-2-seeded drupe; embryo nearly 

 the length of the albumen, with large and foliaceous cotyledons. A small 

 family represented by Cornus, and by a partly apetalous genus, Nyssa. 

 (Bark bitter and tonic.) 



1. CORNUS, Tourn. CORNEL. DOGWOOD. 



Flowers perfect (or in some foreign species dioecious). Calyx minutely 4- 

 toothed. Petals 4, oblong, spreading. Stamens 4 : filaments slender. Style 

 slender : stigma terminal, flat or capitate. Drupe small, with a 2-celled and 2- 

 seeded stone. Leaves opposite (except in one species), entire. Flowers small, 

 in open naked cymes, or in close heads which are surrounded by a corolla-like 

 involucre. (Name from cornu, a horn ; alluding to the hardness of the wood.) 

 1. Flowers greenish, in a head or close cluster, which is surrounded by a large and 

 showy, 4-leaved, corolla-like, white or rarely pinkish involucre : fruit bright red. 



1. C. Canadensis, L. (DWARF CORNEL. BUNCH-BERRY.) Stems low 

 and simple (5' -7' high) from a slender creeping and subterranean rather woody 

 trunk ; leaves scarcely petioled, the lower scale-like, the upper crowded into an 

 apparent whorl in sixes or fours, ovate or oval, pointed ; leaves of the involucre 

 ovate ; fruit globular. Damp cold woods : common northward. June. 



2. C. florida, L. (FLOWERING DOGWOOD.) Leaves ovate, pointed, 

 acutish at the base; leaves of the involucre inversely heart-shaped or notched (!' 

 long) ; fruit oval. Rocky woods: more common southward. May, June. 

 Tree 12 -30 high, very showy in flower, scarcely less so in fruit. 



2. Flowers white, in open and flat spreading cymes : involucre none : fruit spherical. 

 * Leaves all opposite : shrubs. 



3. C. circinata, L'Her. (ROUND-LEAVED CORNEL or DOGWOOD.) 

 Branches greenish, warty-dotted ; leaves round-oval, abruptly pointed, woolly beneath 

 (2' -5' broad); cymes fiat', fruit light blue. Copses ; in rich soil. June. 

 Shrub 6- 10 high. Leaves larger than in any other species. 



4. C. sericea. L. (SILKY CORNEL. KINNIKINNIK.) Branches purplish ; 

 the branchlets, stalks, and lower surface of the narrowly ovate or elliptical pointed leaves 

 silky-downy (often rusty), pale and dull ; cymes flat, close ; calyx-teeth lanceolate ; 

 fruit pale blue. Wet places: common. June. Shrub 3 -10 high. 



5. C. Stolonifera, Michx. (RED-OSIER DOGWOOD.) Branches, especially 

 the osier-like annual shoots, bright red-purple, smooth; leaves ovate, rounded at. the 

 base, abruptly short-pointed, roughish with a minute close pubescence on both 

 sides, whitish underneath ; cymes small and flat, rather few-flowered, smooth; fruit 

 white or lead-color. Wet places : common, especially northward. Multiplies 

 freely by prostrate or subterranean suckers, and forms broad clumps, 3 - 6 

 high. June. 



6. C. asperifblia, Michx. (ROUGH-LEAVED DOGWOOD.) Branches 

 broivnish ; the branchlets, Sfc. rough-pubescent ; leaves oblong or ovate, on very short 

 petioles, pointed, rough with a harsh pubescence above, and downy beneath; calyx- 

 teeth minute. Dry or sandy soil, Illinois and southward. May, June. 



7. C. stricta, Lam. (STIFF CORNEL.) Branches brownish or reddish, 

 smooth ; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, acutish at the base, glabrous, 



