FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 413 



in small flat bunches at the ends of twigs, each cluster appearing to be the center 

 of a large white flower, the showy 4 to <J divisions of which are not parts of a 

 true flower, but large petal-like" scales (fig. 107). In other members (native 

 trees) the small, white flowers appear loosely and without showy scales, in 

 broad, minutely branched (2-forked). flattish-topped clusters. Fruits produced 

 by the- first type of flowers appear in crowded clusters at the ends of the twigs 

 (fig. 198), while the larger, broad, flat clusters of flowers produce similarly 

 arranged clusters of berry-like fruit. Cornel fruits, often bright colored, are 

 eaten by birds and mammals (with little or no injury to the seed), and thus the 



seeds are widely distributed: otherwise, they are distributed only by tl 1 



waters. 



They are chiefly moisture-loving plants, growing either in naturally wet or 

 moist soils, or in forests where shade and ground cover conserve soil water. 

 Species of Comma existed in early geologic periods, of the three tree cornels 

 native to the United States, only one inhabits the Pacific region. 



Western Dogwood. 



Cornus nuttallii Audubon. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Western dogwood, the only tree of its genus in the Pacific forests, is easily 

 recognized in spring when in flower by the large, conspicuous, petal-like" scales. 

 or in late summer and early autumn by its clusters of bright red fruit and bril- 

 liant red and orange foliage. From its general appearance it might easily be 

 mistaken for its eastern relative. Cornus florida L., from which, however, it dif- 

 fers widely in details. The western dogwood is a smooth-looking tree ordinarily 

 from 20 to 30 feet high, and from 6 to 8 inches through, but not uncommonly 

 from 30 to 50 feet high, with a fairly straight trunk from 10 to 20 inches in 

 diameter. Much of the thin, dull, ashy brown or reddish bark is smooth; 

 only the bark of large old trunks is broken into very small, thin scales. Crown 

 branches are short. Young trees in the open have rather short trunks and 

 long, narrow crowns, which in older trees become rounded, while in close 

 stands the crowns are short and narrow, and the trunks long and clean. Twigs 

 of a season's growth, minutely hairy when young, are mostly smooth and dull 

 red-purple, often with greenish areas; the small, pointed, leaf-buds are clasped 

 by two opposite, long-pointed, narrow scales (fig. 198). Mature leaves (fig. 

 198) are thin, with minute, very close hairs on their top sides, and beneath 

 lighter with tine, soft hairs, as also have the leaf stems. Leaves are from !U 

 to 5 inches long; midveins and their side branches conspicuously impressed on 

 the upper sides of the leaves. The button-like clusters of very small, greenish- 

 yellow flowers, which bloom in early spring, are surrounded by from 4 to G 

 showy white or. sometimes, faintly pinkish scales (fig. 197), which are popu- 

 larly taken to be parts of a real flower. They are. however, flower-bud scales 

 which, with the flower cluster, are partly formed during the previous summer, 

 and are situated just beneath B the immature flower cluster: they remain in 

 this undeveloped state until the following spring, when they grow with the 



a Showy like one of the inner parts of a flower which, in ordinary blossoms, are colored 

 as in the rose. 



b In the eastern "flowering dogwood" (C. florida L.) these scales completely cover the 

 cluster of immature flowers. When full grown, scales of 'his species differ greatly from 

 those of western dogwood in being deeply indented at their ends (somewhat heart-shaped). 



151S8— 08 27 



