DESCRIPTIVE -LIST OF FLOWERING SHRUBS. 407 
Cérnus alternifolia, — Alternate-leaved Cornel.— “A 
beautiful shrub, six or eight feet high; sometimes a grace- 
ful small tree, of fifteen, twenty, or even twenty-five feet 
high, throwing off, at one or more points, several branch- 
es, which, slightly ascending, diverge, and form nearly 
horizontal umbrageous stages, or flats of leaves, so closely 
arranged as to give almost a perfect shade. Recent 
shoots, of a shining light yellowish-green, with oblong 
scattered dots. The older branches, of a rich polished 
green, striped with gray. Flowers in an irregularly 
branched head, yellowish-white; fruit, blue-black. A 
beautiful plant, with a variety of character. It grows nat- 
urally in most woods, or on the sides of hills; but, when 
cultivated, flourishes in almost any kind of soil, and even 
in dry situations. It flowers in May and June, and the 
fruit ripens in October.” 
C. florida.—The Flowering Dogwood.—This species is 
more of a tree than any of those described, and one of 
the most desirable of all the genus. It is a conspicuous 
object, in some of our woods, the last of May. The tree 
is then loaded with a profusion of its large, showy, white 
flowers, which are produced at the ends of the branches, 
What is generally taken for the flower is not in reality 
such. The flowers are small, and without much interest, 
except to the botanist. Twelve or more of them are 
clustered together in a head, and surrounded by a whorl 
of four large white floral leaves, which constitutes the 
principal beauty of the flower. These floral leaves are 
nerved, somewhat héart-shaped, shaded with flesh color, 
or purple; the fruit is of a bright scarlet. 
“The leaves early begin to change to purple, and turn 
to a rich scarlet, or crimson, above, with a light-russet be- 
neath; or to crimson and buff, or orange ground, above, 
with a glaucous-purple beneath. These, surrounding the 
scarlet bunches of berries, make the tree as beautiful an 
