112 



TREES OP THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES 



ft. high, with hard, tough, flexible wood, 

 sometimes cultivated for its early flow- 

 ers and late, beautiful fruit. 



4. C6rnus alternifolia, L. f. (AL- 

 TERNATE-LEAVED CORNEL. ) Leaves al- 

 ternate, clustered at the ends of the 

 branches, 

 ovate or 

 oval-acu- 

 hitish with 



minate, tapering at base, 

 minute pubescence beneath. Cymes 

 of flowers and fruit broad and open. 

 Fruit deep blue on reddish stalks. 

 Shrub, though occasionally tree-like, 8 

 to 25 ft. high ; on hillsides throughout ; 

 rarely cultivated. 



GENUS 46. NYSSA. 



Trees with deciduous, alternate, exstipulate, usually en- 

 tire leaves, mostly acute at both ends. Flowers somewhat 

 dioecious, i. e. staminate and pistillate flowers on separate 

 trees. The staminate flowers are quite conspicuous be- 

 cause so densely clustered. April and May. Fruit on 

 but a portion of the trees, consisting of one or two small 

 (4 to in.), drupes in the axils of the leaves. Stone 

 roughened with grooves. Ripe in autumn. 



* Fruit usually clustered . 



* Fruit solitary 



1. Nyssa sylv&tica, Marsh. (PEPPER- 

 IDGE. BLACK OR .SOUR GUM.) Leaves 

 oval to obovate, pointed, entire (some- 

 times angulate-toothed beyond the mid- 

 dle), rather thick, shining above when 

 old, 2 to 5 in. long. The leaves are 

 crowded near the ends of the branches 

 and flattened 'so as to appear 2-ranked, 

 like the Beech; turning bright crimson 

 in the autumn. Fruit ovoid, bluish-black, 

 about y z in. long, sour. Medium-sized 



