118 FAMILIAR TREES 
The confusion of name and use, however, between 
this and other small woods is still reflected in one 
trade—the manufacture of gunpowder. The name 
Dogwood has been shared between Cornus sanguinea, 
Euonymus europeus, Rham'nus Fran’‘gula and 
Viburnum Op'ulus : the wood of all of them probably 
has been employed in the manufacture of a. fine- 
grained charcoal, such as is used for some gunpowder : 
that of the Spindle-tree is said to be the best for 
drawing-crayons ; but for gunpowder it is Rhamnus 
Frangula which retains the name Dogwood. 
It is more particularly on a chalk or limestone 
soil that this bush abounds in thicket and hedgerow, 
and it does not occur in Scotland and is uncommon 
in Ireland ; so that, speaking of the country generally, 
it is not so frequent as we might think from our 
experience of it in the south-eastern counties. It 
grows from four to eight, or even fifteen or twenty 
feet in height, its round straight branches springing 
in opposite pairs from the leaf-axils and spreading 
in a horizontal or ascending direction. Their small 
slender buds are enclosed by a few velvety scales, and 
the surface of the young twigs is also pubescent. 
These twigs may be olive-green, faintly, if at all, 
tinged with red; but in spring and winter, when 
affected by frost, they glow with the blood-red hue 
that has given the shrub its specific name—sangwinea. 
As they get older they lose their down and their red- 
ness, becoming grey and then olive-brown, and cork- 
warts make their appearance, fissuring the hitherto 
smooth bark into scales. This bark and the leaves, 
when bruised, have a strong fetid odour, to which the 
