DOGWOOD FAMILY. Cornaceae. 



DOGWOOD FAMILY. Cornaceae. 



Not a very large family, most abundant in the northern 

 hemisphere, mostly trees or shrubs. They have simple, 

 mostly toothless leaves, without stipules, usually opposite 

 or in whorls. The flowers are in round or flat-topped 

 clusters and have four or five sepals and petals and four to 

 many stamens. The inferior ovary becomes a stone-fruit 

 that looks like a berry. Cornus is from the Greek for 

 "horn," in allusion to the toughness of the wood. 



There are many kinds of Cornus, some natives of Mexico 

 and Peru, with small, white, greenish or purple flowers, in 

 clusters, which often have an involucre of large, white 

 bracts. 



A handsome shrub or small tree, from 



Cdrmu NMi&Uii ten to thirt 7 feet hi h and growing in rich 

 White woods, often near streams. The flower 



Spring, summer clusters are composed of numerous, small, 

 Oreg., Wash.,Cal. greenish flowers> forming a large, pro- 

 truding knob, which is surrounded by large, white, petal- 

 like bracts, usually six in number, giving the effect of a 

 single handsome flower, measuring from three to six inches 

 across. It resembles the Flowering Dogwood of the East, 

 but as the flowers have six instead of four "petals," the 

 tips of which in Yosemite are neither puckered nor stained 

 with pink, they look different to eastern eyes and the 

 general appearance, though equally fine, is less picturesque, 

 probably because the shrub is rather larger and less strag- 

 gling, the flowers bigger and more symmetrical, and the 

 leaves brighter green. The effect of the flat masses of 

 creamy white bloom among the darker forest trees is 

 magnificent, and in Washington and Oregon the leaves turn 

 to brilliant red in the autumn. The fruit is a cluster of 

 bright red berries. The wood is exceedingly hard and is 

 used in cabinet-making. There is a tradition that when 

 Dogwood blooms corn should be planted. 



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