i6o PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 



the smallest member of the family, it has wrapped about itself 

 a white petal-like involucre that is only indulged in by a few 

 other dogwoods, as is the case with the largest and most import- 

 ant of them all, the C. florida. It has probably found out that 

 size is not such an essential matter. " Bigness," Bishop Potter 

 says, " is not greatness." 



After the bloom has passed, the flower-stalk stretches upward 

 and bears a bunch of attractive red berries. They are quite 

 edible. In the rich woods of New Jersey the plant grows pro- 

 lifically. 



FLOWERING DOGWOOD. {Plate LXXXI) 



Cornus fibrida. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Dogwood. White and green. Scentless. Rather general. May, June. 



Flowers : tiny ; perfect ; green ; growing in a cluster and surrounded by a 

 showy involucre of four obcordate petal-like bracts, notched at the apex. 

 Leaves : simple ; elliptical ; netted-veined ; glabrous. A shrub or tree twelve 

 to thirty feet high ; woody ; branching ; leafy. 



Almost too well known to need any description is this shrub 

 or tree. Like the little bunch-berry it is provided with a beau- 

 tiful white involucre and it can be seen at a great distance. 

 Hardly any one of our shrubs contributes more to the beauty 

 of the spring woods. 



The pity is that when at the height of its bloom it is so often 

 stripped of its flowers, and great branches of it are broken off by 

 ruthless hands that seem to be quite ignorant of the harm they 

 are doing. 



Its home is in the rocky woods, and according to the tradi- 

 tion of the people, it blooms just at the proper time for planting 

 Indian corn. 



ROUND=LEAVED DOGWOOD. 



C6r7ius circinata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Dogwood. White. Scentless. New England June. 



south^vard and westward. 



Flowers: small, in a flat open cluster having no involucre. Calyx : with four 

 minutely-toothed sepals. Corolla: with four petals. Sla?nens : four. Pistil: 



