112 TREES OF THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES 
ft. high, with hard, tough, flexible wood, 
sometimes cultivated for its early flow- 
ers and late, beautiful fruit. 
4. Cérnus alternifélia, L.f. (AL- 
TERNATE-LEAVED CORNEL.) Leaves al- 
ternate, clustered at the ends of the 
branches, 
ovate or 
Cc. mascula. ‘ oval-acu- 
minate, tapering at base, whitish with 
minute pubescence beneath. Cymes 
of flowers and fruit broad and open. 
Fruit deep blue on reddish stalks. 
Shrub, though occasionally tree-like, 8 1 
to 25 ft. high; on hillsides throughout; 2 
rarely cultivated. _ C. alternifolia. 
Genus 46. NYSSA. 
Trees with deciduous, alternate, exstipulate, usually en- 
tire leaves, mostly acute at both ends. Flowers somewhat 
dicecious, i. e. staminate and pistillate flowers on separate 
trees. The staminate flowers are quite conspicuous be- 
cause so densely clustered. April and May. Fruit on 
but a portion of the trees, consisting of one or two small 
(4 to 4 in.), drupes in the axils of the leaves. Stone 
roughened with grooves. Ripe in autumn. 
* Fruit usually clustered........0.0 00... cee cece eee enna 1, 2. 
SB TUL SOMPABY. Gicsca sey pibs eb oF 5 veo mnnebidravaldecaua eds kedea heed a dataset 3. 
1. Nyssa sylvatica, Marsh. (PEPPER- 
IDGE. Biack oR Sour Gum.) Leaves 
oval to obovate, pointed, entire (some- 
times angulate-toothed beyond the mid- 
dle),- rather thick, shining above when 
old, 2 to 5 in. long. The leaves are 
crowded near the ends of the branches 
and flattened so as to appear 2-ranked, 
like the Beech; turning bright crimson 
inthe autumn. Fruit ovoid, bluish-black, 
N. sylvdtica, about 4% in. long, sour. Medium-sized 
, 
