Shrubs and Vines 
tree only by compliment, for it is oftener a shrub. All 
the species have the pinnate leaf that is characteristic of 
the family, and mostly yellow pea-shaped blossoms. 
Though hardy, they have a delicate appearance, due to 
the soft texture of the finely cut leaves; and the differ- 
ences of the species are such as would interest the bot- 
anist rather than the landscape amateur. Blossoming 
in May and June they do not attract attention by con- 
spicuous features, and can easily be overlooked from re- 
semblance in flower and leaf to many other species. 
The reputation of the entire dogwood family has been 
made by one illustrious member of it—the flowering 
dogwood, referred to particularly elsewhere. While this 
is equally at home on the lawn and in the woods, his 
kindred for the most part modestly remain in the back- 
ground, and, truth to tell, there is little reason why they 
should be invited to come forward into publicity. The 
naturalist, however, is always glad to meet them in their 
chosen haunts, and they offer interesting differences for 
the scrutiny of the analytical botanist. 
The common forms are the round-leaved, alternate- 
leaved, silky, panicled, and red-osier dogwood. The 
last-named, with an almost identical European form, 
has a special interest as being the only case in which a 
shrub’s ornamentation is in neither foliage, flower, nor 
fruit, but in the brilliant color of its bark in winter. 
From May to December it is a dull brown, but it then 
begins to brighten, and by February is of such a vivid 
crimson tint as to make a large shrub in a snowy land- 
scape one of the most peculiar and beautiful sights of 
winter. In foliage and flower this is as commonplace 
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