158 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Habit. A shrub or small tree, 6-20 feet high, trunk diam- 

 eter 3-6 inches ; head usually widest near the top, flat ; 

 branches nearly horizontal with lateral spray, the lively green, 

 dense foliage lying in broad planes. 



Bark. Trunk and larger branches greenish, warty, streaked 

 with gray ; season's shoots bright yellowish-green or purplish, 

 oblong-dotted. 



Winter Buds and Leaves Buds small, acute. Leaves simple, 



alternate or sometimes opposite, clustered at the ends of the 

 branchlets, 2-4 inches long, dark green on the upper side, 

 paler beneath, with minute appressed pubescence on both 

 sides, ovate to oval, almost entire ; apex long-pointed ; base 

 acutish or rounded ; veins indented above, ribs curving upward 

 and parallel ; petiole long, slender, and grooved. 



Inflorescence. June. From shoots of the season, in irreg- 

 ular open cymes ; calyx coherent with ovary, surmounting it 

 by 4 minute teeth ; corolla white or pale yellow, with the 

 4 oblong petals at length reflexed ; stamens 4, exserted ; style 

 short, with capitate stigma. 



Fruit. October. Globular, blue or blue black, on slender, 

 reddish stems. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England, 

 adapting itself to a great variety of situations, but preferring 

 a soil that is constantly moist. Nursery or good collected 

 plants are easily transplanted. A disease, similar in its 

 effect to the pear blight, so often disfigures it that it is not 

 desirable for use in important plantations. 



PLATE LXXX. CORNUS ALTERNIFOLIA. 



1. Winter buds. 



2. Flowering branch. 



3. Flower with one petal and two stamens removed, side view. 



4. Flower, view from above. 



5. Fruiting branch. 



