434 DECIDUOUS TJiMES. 



trees to lose their brightness under high culture and rapid growth, 

 and it is therefore necessary to guard against this tendency by hor- 

 ticultural discrimination. 



The Male Dogwood or Cornelian Cherry. Comus mas. — 

 This tree, though a native of Europe, closely resembles the Comus 

 florida, except in its flowers and fruit, and that it forms a still 

 smaller tree. The flowers are insignificant, and appear in March 

 or April. The beautiful cornelian-colored fruit, the size of a small 

 acorn, is one of the attractions of the tree. This is ripe from Sep- 

 tember to November, and hangs long on the branches. The tree 

 is long-lived and improves with age. 



The White-fruited or Red-twigged Dogwood, C. alba, of 

 Loudon, C. stolonifera of Michaux and Central Park. Accustomed 

 from childhood to see this dogwood in the copses of wet alluvial 

 soils, and to associate its brilliant-colored sprouts principally with 

 the whips used in school chastisements, it has surprised us to see 

 how beautiful a shrub it makes in rich open ground. There are 

 few more pleasing shrubs in the Central Park, where it forms 

 broadly-spreading bushes from six to ten feet high. The leaves are 

 of a glossy green, thin, four to six inches long, and superior in 

 brightness of tone to any of the dogwoods. They turn to yellow 

 and red in autumn. The flowers are white, small, in large clusters, 

 and appear from May to July. The fruit is white, and ripe in Sep- 

 tember. The young wood is of a brilliant light red, with a slight 

 bloom upon it. This feature makes it a pretty winter shrub, where 

 its ^sood can be seen against the snow. This is the shrub often 

 sold at the nurseries as Cornus sanguinea — a very appropriate title, 

 but one which had been given by botanists to a longer known Eu- 

 ropean variety, on account of the deep red of its decaying leaves. 



The Silky Dogwood, Comus sericea of Loudon, C. lanugitioso 

 of Michaux. A spreading shrub of large size, resembling the Cor- 

 nus florida in its foliage, but less tree-like in form. Flowers white, 

 in June and July. Fruit bright blue, ripe in October. Leaves in 

 autumn s^ rusty brown, sometimes crimson ; petioles a bright pink. 



