EARLY-FLOWERING SHRUBS. 



31 



ruddy stems, which by the middle of winter are 

 hlood-red, and furnish a remarkable bit of color on 

 the borders of the snow- 

 covered meadow. The 

 flower clusters, which 

 are small and flat, 

 appear in June ; 

 they are followed 

 in August by whit- 

 ish or leaden-gray fruit. 

 This species is com- 

 mon in wet places 

 throughout the IS^orth. 



C. asperifolia is Comus sericea. 



also but three or four 



feet high, and bears flowers in a similar small, flat 

 cluster, succeeded by a whitish fruit. The branches 

 of this species are brown and rough downy ; the 

 leaves are also downy. C. asperifolia is a distinctive- 

 ly Western species extending from the northern shore 

 of Lake Erie to Minnesota ; it also grows in the ■ 

 South. 



C. paniculata is a much-branched shrub from four 

 to eight feet high, which bears flowers in numerous 

 loose, almost cone-shaped clusters in May or June. 

 The fruit is white, borne on a pale-red stem ; it ap- 

 pears in late August. This species is very common 



