CHAP. LXI. ^ORNA V CE^;. CO'RNUS. 1015 



elliptic, of a bright shining scarlet colour, the size and 

 form of a small olive or acorn, very styptic in its 

 immature state. (Don's Mitt., iii. p. 400.) It is a 

 native throughout Europe, Britain excepted, and in 

 the north of Asia, in hedges and among bushes ; and 

 in France, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, 

 Carniola, Piedmont, &c. A shrub or low tree, 

 growing from 12ft. to 20ft. high; introduced in 

 1596; and flowering from February to April. 



Varieties. 



*£ C. m. 2 fructu cerce colons N. Du Ham., ii. p. 



162., has the fruit of a wax colour. This variety is not common in 

 British gardens. 

 ¥ C. m. 3 variegdtus has the leaves edged with white or yellow. 

 Description. The cornel tree, or cornelian cherry, in a wild state, is 

 seldom found above 10 ft. or 12 ft. high ; but it attains twice that height in a 

 state of culture. It has ash-coloured pubescent shoots, ovate-lanceolate 

 leaves, and yellow flowers, which, in mild winters, come out in January or 

 February ; and the greater part of which, in trees not exceeding twelve or fif- 

 teen years of age, have only stamens, and drop off without producing fruit. 

 The fruit ripens in September or October, but is not frequently seen in England. 

 It is about the size of a small acorn, and of a fine, rich, transparent scarlet : it 

 remains a long time on the tree after it is ripe, and is very ornamental. The 

 growth of the tree is remarkably slow after the first ten or twelve years ; and 

 its duration is so great, that it is said to live for centuries. It is an irregular- 

 headed tree, furnished with numerous branches ; and when it has attained a 

 sufficient age to bear fruit, it is generally about the size of an ordinary 

 apple tree. When it begins to bear, the fruit is produced in tolerable abun- 

 dance. 



Geography a?id History. The cornel tree is a native of the middle and south 

 of Europe, of Siberia, and the west of Asia, in woods and hedges, generally 

 on soils more or less calcareous. It was known to the ancients, being men- 

 tioned by Homer as one of the trees that bear the coarsest fruit, in his 

 Odyssey (book x. ver. 242.) ; where he represents Circe as throwing it, with 

 acorns and beech mast, to the companions of Ulysses, after she had trans- 

 formed them into swine. Virgil calls it the " meagre food," and couples it 

 with other " savage berries of the wood." Pliny speaks of it as a tree indi- 

 genous in Italy, the wood of which was nearly equal to iron in its hardness 

 and fitness for making wedges and wooden pins. The Romans also used it, 

 he says, for making spokes to their wheels. The first notice of its being in 

 England is in Turner's Herbal. Tusser mentions the fruit under the name 

 of cornel plums; and Lord Bacon, as cornelians. Gerard, in 1597, says, 

 " There be sundry trees of the cornel in the gardens of such as love rare 

 and dainty plants, whereof I have a tree or two in my garden." Miller, in 

 1752, says, " The tree is common in English gardens, where it is propagated 

 for its fruit, which is made into tarts, and used in medicine as an astringent 

 and cooler." In a subsequent edition of his Dictionary, he mentions the 

 cornel as being chiefly cultivated as an ornamental shrub, which is the prin- 

 cipal purpose for which it is at present propagated throughout Europe. 



Properties and Uses. The wood has been, in all ages, celebrated for its 

 hardness and durability ; and it is at the same time tough and flexible. In a 

 dry state, it weighs 69 lb. 5 oz. to the cubic foot. The heart-wood is of a 

 brownish tint ; and the soft wood white, with a slight tint of red. In ancient 

 times, it was much in repute as shafts for javelins ; and both Homer and 

 Virgil mention its use for these weapons. In France, when it can be pro- 

 cured of sufficient size, it is used in mill-work, especially as cogs for wheels, 

 and for all the various purposes to which the wood of Morbus domestica is 

 applied. The small branches are said to make the most durable spokes for 

 ladders, wooden forks for turning the grain on barn floors, and for making 



