l98 CORNUS. 



I CLASS IV. ORDEK !.• 



GENUS XII. COR'NUS. Linn, Cornel 



Nat. Old. CAPiiiF0LiA'cEi5E. § Cor'neje. 



Gen. Char, Calyx of four deciduous pieces. Corolla superior, of 

 four oblong, acute petals. Drupe with a two-celled, two-seeded 

 nut. — Name from cornu, a horn ; on account of the hardness of 

 the wood, it being thought to be durable as horn. 



1, C. sanffui7i,'ea,hh\n. (Fig. 253.) ivild Cornel, o^- Dogicood. Ar- 

 borescent: branches straight, dark-red when full grown ; leaves 

 opposite, ovate, green on both sides; cymes flaked. 



English Botany, t. 249. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 231. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 133. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 72. 



A shrub, from four to five feet high, with straight, round, smooth 

 branches, when full grown, of a dark-red colour. Leaves opposite, 

 ovate-acute, entire, strongly ribbed, quite smooth, or scattered over 

 with short hairs, green on both sides, but somewhat paler beneath, from 

 one to three inches long, on short channelled footstalks, and changing 

 before falling off to a more or less deep-red colour. Inflorescence a flat, 

 terminal, naked cpne, of more or less numerous, gveemsh-vihile Jlotvers, 

 having an unpleasant smell. Calyx of four minute pieces, shortly 

 falling away. Petals four, oblong, spreading, the margins somewhat 

 rolled inwards, and, as well as the ovarium and their partial stalks, 

 mostly scattered with hairs. Fruit a roundish, dark-purple drupe, its 

 nut two-celled, each cell containing a single seed. 



Habitat. — Woods and hedges, especially on a chalk or limestone soil. 

 Frequent in England; scarcely wild in Scotland — Hooker. South 

 Isles of Arran. Abundant in hedges below Coolock, Ireland ; but 

 scarcely indigenous — Machay. 



Shrub; flowering in June and July. 



Cornel, or common Dogwood-tree, is so named, according to Parkin- 

 son, because the fruit of most of the species is not lit even for dogs : it 

 is probable, however, that it may have obtained this name on account 

 of the fruit, as well as the bark and leaves, which possess bitter and 

 astringent properties, having been used for the cure of the mange and 

 other diseases in dogs. The wood is hard, and used for the purpose of 

 making butchers' skewers, toys, &c.; but in former times, when bows 

 and arrows were used as arms of defence, its straight tough branches 

 were highly esteemed for making the arrows. The fleshy part of the 

 fruit contains a considerable proportion of oil, from which it is extracted 

 in France and other parts of the Continent by boiling and pressure, 

 and used for burning, the making of soap, and for the table use ; there 

 the young branches arc also made into ramrods for guns, and, when 

 bored, used as tubes to pipes. The wood is excellent fuel, and aff'ords 

 one of the best charcoals for the manufactyic of gunpowder. It is a 



