450 COENACEu'E. 



Leaven clefkluous, alternate or verticillate, compound, petiolate. mostly with stipules. 

 Flotrcrs in racemose or pauicled umbels or heads, 5-uumerous ; calyx-tube aduate to the ovary; 

 petals sometimes united ; disk epigynous ; stamens as many as the petals, alternate with them, 

 and inserted on the disk ; ovary 1-several-celled, each cell containing a solitary anatropous 

 pendulous ovule; styles as many as the cells ol; the ovary. Fruit baccate; seeds with thin 

 testa, small embryo and abundant albumen. 



THE HERCULES-CLUB, ETC. Genus ARALIA L. 



Spiny trees, shrubs and herbs of about thirty species about a half dozen of which are 

 natives of North America, the remaining of Asia. Of the American species one only is arbor- 

 escent. 



Leaven pinnately or ternately decompound, the petioles enlarged and clasping at the base. 

 Floirevx mostly perfect, small, greenish white; pedicels pointed; calyx-lobes minute, valvate ; 

 petals imbricated in the bud; stamens with filiform filaments and oblong introrse, 2-celled 

 anthers longitudinally dehiscent; ovary inferior, mostly 2-5-celled, styles of same number, 

 dehiscent or united at base. Fruit a 2-.5-seeded berry laterally compressed or 3-.5-angled and 

 tipped with the remnants of the styles and calyx-lobes and containing 2-5 compressed seeds 

 with straight radicle and oblong cotyledons. 



The name is of obscure derivation. 



For species see pp. 35^'i-3o5. 



DOGWOOD FAMILY. CORXACE^ Link. 



The Dogwood Famil.v consists of trees and shrubs of about sixteen genera and eighty-five 



species mainly of north temperate regions. Two genera have arborescent representatives in 



North America. 



Leaves deciduous, simple, variously arranged and without stipules. Floivers regular, in 

 cymes, heads, or solitary ; calyx adnate to the ovary, its limb 4-ri-toothed or none ; petals 4-.'5 

 or none ; disk epigenous ; stamens as many as the petals and inserted with them on the margin 

 of the disk ; anthers introrse, 2-celled with a solitarj' anatropous suspended ovule in each cell. 

 Fruit a 1-2-seeded drupe ; seed oblong with foliaceous cotyledons and copious albumen. 



KEY TO THE GENERA. 



Flowers perfect, arranged in fours ; leaves mostly opposite Cornus. 



Flowers dioecious or polygamous, petals .5, very small or none; leaves alternate.... Nyssa. 



THE DOGWOODS OR CORNELS. Genus CORNUS L. 



Trees and shrubs of about forty species widely distributed throughout the north temperate 

 zone and one species in Peru. Sixteen or seventeen species are found in North America of 

 which four are arborescent. 



Leaves deciduous, mostly opposite. Flowers perfect, small, in cymes or heads, the latter 

 with an involucre of showy white bracts in some species; calyx with -t small lobes, valvate in 

 the bud : disk epigenous ; petals 4, valvate ; stamens 4. alternate with the petals exserted and 

 with slender filaments; ovary 2-celled, each cell containing a single ovule, with simple columnar 

 style and capitate or truncate stigma. Fruit an oblong drupe with thin flesh and bony or 

 cruslaceous 2-celled and usually 2-seeded stone. 



The name is from the Latin eornu, horn, alluding to the hardness of the wood of some 

 of the species. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a Flowers greenish, in dense heads with 4 large white involucral bracts ; fruit red, 



C. Florida, 

 a^ Flowers white, in loose cymes, without bracts 



Fruit blue ; leaves smooth above C. alternifolia. 



Fruit white ; leaves scabrous above C. asperifolia. 



For species sec pp. 356-361. 



THE TUPELOS. Genus NYSSA L. 



Trees of five species of which four are natives of eastern North America and the remain- 

 ing one of southeastern Asia. They produce very fine grained tough wood, with contorted 

 fiber and annual rings indistinctly indicated. The fruit is very tart and is sometimes used in 

 conserves. 



