120 FAMILIAR TREES 
The somewhat rounded clusters of cream-white 
flowers terminate the branches in June and July. 
Rich in honey, and freely visited by a variety of 
insect life, they have a pungent unpleasant smell. 
The pointed form of the petals, and the fact that each 
of the four is distinct, and not united into a tube as 
in the Guelder-roses and Elders, give a distinctive 
character to the inflorescence. There is no struc- 
tural obstacle to prevent self-pollination, though, no 
doubt, the many flies and small beetles that visit the 
blossoms often bring pollen from a distance and so 
effect a cross. 
The flowers are succeeded by small green berries, 
which are nearly globular, and are surmounted by the 
much-withered traces of the calyx and honey-disk. 
In September they ripen to a purple-black, and, like 
every other part of the plant, are intensely bitter ; but 
they are eagerly devoured by thrushes. Whilst, as 
we have already seen, they were formerly boiled for 
lamp-oil, they are stated to be used in France at 
the present day for soap-making, yielding about a 
quarter of their weight of oil. , 
There are, doubiless, many shrubs more beautiful 
than the Dogwood ; but its close-growing habit, its 
clusters of starry blossoms and polished berries, and, 
above all, its autumn colouring, justify its claim to a 
place in the shrubbery with Danewort, Spindle-tree, 
and Snow-berry. 
A small plantation of this species by itself has 
recently been made, chiefly for the sake of its autumn 
colouring, by the margin of the Pen Ponds in 
Richmond Park. 
