The Tupelos and the Dogwoods 



autumn, long after they are ripe and the leaves are fallen. These 

 juicy fruits are sour, and make excellent preserves. It must be 

 difficult business to get them, for the trees stand in water. 

 Nevertheless, the demand for them is good, and justifies the 

 necessary exertion. 



The Cotton Gum (Nyssa aquaiica,^ Marsh.) is the large 

 tupelo of the swamps, a tree with an unusually broad base, an 

 abundance of corky roots, and a superb pyramidal crown. Trunks 

 3 to 4 feet in diameter and 80 to 100 feet high are not at all unusual. 

 White cottony down is noticeable throughout the treetop as 

 spring growth begins. The young leaves divest themselves of 

 this covering as they mature, except as a lining. These leaves 

 are large, oval, often remotely toothed or lobed. The fruit is 

 purple, and hangs on long, flexible stalks among the gay-coloured 

 leaves in autumn. It has not the popularity of the Ogeechee 

 limes, for the flesh is thin and the skin is tough. The lumber is 

 largely used for fruit crates, broom handles and other cheap 

 articles. The tree is seen at its best in the cypress swamps ol 

 Louisiana and Texas. 



Ji' THE DOGWOODS 



N^y^ Genus CORNUS, Linn. 



Small, slender-twigged trees, with very hard wood. Leaves 

 simple, entire, opposite (except one). Flowers small, in dense 

 cymes; perfect. Fruit a berry-like, 2-celled drupe. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Leaves opposite. 

 B. Fruit red. 



C. Flower buds covered; bracts 4, notched. 



(C. florida) flowering dogwood 

 CC. Flower buds naked; bracts 4 to 6, not notched. 



(C. Nutialln) western dogwood 

 BB. Fruit white (rarely dark blue) ; leaves rough above. 



(C. asperifolia) dogwood 

 AA. Leaves alternate; fruit blue. 



(C. aliernijolia) alternate-leaved dogwood 



The dogwoods include about thirty species distributed over 

 the Northern Hemisphere, with a single species in Peru. They 



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