788 



THE NATURE BOOK 



colours — red. yellow, and green — are made 

 from the fruit and seed. When fully ny>e 

 these capsules open, and the four lobes 

 separate, exposing the orange-skinntd 

 seeds. In this state it looks \-ery much 

 like a flower, with pink petals and orange 

 stamens and pistil. 



The wood of the tree is very hard, and 



l'kl\l. I' ^ LOW 1-,KS. 



is useful for many purposes. Spindles or 

 skewers are made with it, and this gives 

 rise to the French name for it, Fit sain. 

 The local names, Prick-wood, or Prick- 

 timber, has also the same reference. 

 A S])ecial sort of charcoal for artists is 

 made from the wood, as the lines which 

 it makes are easily effaced. The other 

 French name for it is Bonnet du Pritrc 

 (the Priest's hat) ; this is given to it 

 on account of the shape of the seed 

 capsules. 



The name of the Dogwood (Corn us san- 

 guinca) does not refer to the animal, but 



to the fact that skewers are made from 

 the wood ; the ])refix " dog " is a corrup- 

 tion of the old English dagge, meaning a 

 dagger. Other local names for it are 

 Prick-wood and Skewer-wood. This is 

 a very common shrub in hedges and 

 woods, and may be distinguished readily 

 by t)ie dark red colour of the young 

 branches, and in the autumn by 

 the beautiful crimson colour of 

 the leaves just before they are 

 ready to fall. The shrub grows to 

 a height of five or six feet, send- 

 ing out a good many branches ; 

 the bark is grey, and the young 

 shoots red. The flowers are small, 

 greenish white in colour, and with 

 a somewhat disagreeable scent ; 

 there are several flowers in a 

 cluster. 



A good deal of honey is secreted 

 at the base of the pistil, and the 

 flowers are visited by all kinds 

 of insects, especialh' flies. In the 

 autumn the blossoms are suc- 

 ceeded by clusters of very dark 

 ])urple — almost black — berries. 

 These are very bitter to the 

 taste ; they contain a quantity 

 of oil. which is sometimes used 

 lor burning in lamps and also 

 in soa]) manufacture. The 

 leaves gi\'e a wonderful grada- 

 tion of colour, from green to 

 dark crimson, and in this re- 

 spect resemble the Euonymus ; 

 several very ornamental Cornel 

 trees have been introduced of late 

 years into England from North 

 America. The name Cornus 

 comes from the Latin corn it, a 

 horn, and was given to the 

 shrub because of the horn-like nature of 

 the wood. 



THE ELDER 



A small, much branched tree very often 

 to be seen growing in hedges and thickets, 

 is the Black T^lder (Sciiiibiiais nigra). It 

 belongs to the Honeysuckle family [Capri- 

 foliacar), although it seems at first sight 

 to have very little in coninion with the 

 other members of the family. The leaves 

 are pinnate, cut into five or seven seg- 

 ments, sharply toothed, and quite smooth. 

 The cream-coloured flowers are borne in 

 a big flat cluster, about six inches across, 



