498 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



traded by a bush which showed an unusual profusion of bloom, 

 and while standing close beside it in admiration I was suddenly 

 stung on the cheek by some missile, and the next instant shot in 

 the eye by another, the mysterious marksman having apparently 

 let off both barrels of his little gun directly in my face. I soon 

 discovered him, an army of them — in fact, a saucy legion — all 

 gpinning with open mouths and white teeth exposed, and their 

 double-barrelled guns loaded to the muzzle and ready to shoot 

 whenever the whim should take them." 



Within my memory the twigs of this shrub have been used to 

 detect the presence of water beneath the ground. I recall an old 

 man solemnly stalking over my father's place with a magic witch- 

 hazel wand in his hand. I followed him expectantly, hoping to 

 see the rod tremble. Whether in this instance the old farmer's 

 sign was distrusted, or whether the twig did not shake, I cannot 

 remember. The well was never dug. 



As Pond's Extract the witch-hazel is esteemed a valuable 

 household remedy. 



68. Round-leaved Cornel 



Cornus circinata. — Family,T)ogvioodL. 6Ww, white. Leaves, 

 opposite, round or oval, distinctly pointed, veins curving and 

 parallel, downy beneath. Time, June. 



Calyx, minutely 4 -toothed. Petals, 4. Stamens, 4, with 

 slender filaments. Style, i. Flowers, gathered into broad, 

 open, flat cymes, without the involucre which belongs to the 

 flowering dogwood {C.Jloriila), 2i well- known, common tree. 

 Berries light blue. Shrub 6 to 10 feet high, with greenish, 

 warty-dotted branches. 



One of the pretty bushes which line our drives through woods, 

 in rich or poor soil, edging thickets, from Maine to Virginia, 

 westward to Missouri. 



69. Silky Cornel. Kinnikinick 



C. sericea has flowers and fruit much like the last. Leaves, 

 narrower, ovate or elliptical, pointed, silky-downy, pale green. 



