BOTANICAL SOCIETY OP CANADA. 
28 
cornus. The wood of C. fiorida is not only remarkable for its hardness, but also 
for its extremely fine texture. 
Qorniis jiorida^ the flowering Dogwood, is the most beautiful and showy plant 
of its genus. It is a round-headed, small tree, usually fifteen or twenty feet high, 
but often reaching a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, and a diameter of eight or 
nine inches. The nev\' shoots arc of a grayish green, covered with down ; those of 
the previous year are purple, with slight rings, afterwards changing to gray and 
streaked with brown. The stem is rough, with short broken ridges, between which 
the bark is often divided into regular plates. The branches are numerous spread- 
ing, and disposed with regularity, sometimes opposite, sometimes arising by fours. 
The leaves are three inches long, opposite, oval, entire, acuminated, and at the base 
abruptly tapering to a short channelled foot-stalk. Smooth on their upper surface, 
their lower is whitish, with hairs along the midribs and veins, and a few scattered 
ones between ; the upper surface having also numerous conspicuous ridges. The 
flowers are placed at the ends of the branches, supported by a club-shaped foot- 
stalk. They are extremely small, and aggregated together in numbers of twelve 
or more in a head surrounded by a showy involucre, three or four inches in length, 
and which is supposed by the non-scientific to be the flower. The flowers them- 
selves are of a greenish yellow color, but the few large obeordate leaves of the in- 
volucre are white, and sometimes tinged with violet. The outer extremity of each 
is notched as if from injury, and this notch is purple or rose-colored. The calyx is 
extremely smnll. The petals and stamens are each four in number. There is one 
pistil with a filiform style nearly as long as the corolla. The fruit is a group of ob- 
long, oval, shining, bright scarlet berries, crowned with the remnant of the calyx. 
These appear placed in the fork of two branches, which arises from the fact that 
while the flowers are terminal, yet, ere the fruit is perfected, the two branchlets for 
the succeeding years' flowers are developed and grown on each side; These berries 
ripen here about July or August, and are eagerly devoured, despite their bitter- 
ness, by birds during the winter months. In Louisiana, the (J. fiorida flowers in 
February, in our vicinity in April and May, and farther north in June and July. It 
is in bloom for a fortnight, during which time the Indian farmers say, Indian corn 
should be planted. The plant is of a slow growth, and has a hard, heavy, solid 
wood, of a close texture, and susceptible of a high polish. It is often called Box- 
wood, and used as a substitute for it in the manulacture of handles for chisels, ham- 
mers, and such tools, for the cogs of wheels, teeth of harrows, spoons, etc. Soon 
after the fruit commences to ripen, the leaves begin to change their color, turning 
to a purple and then to a rich crimson or purple above, and a light russet beneath, 
forming one of the most beautiful objects during the Fall months. 
Chemical analysis shows that the barks of the root, stem and branches, which 
are bitter, astringent and aromatic, contain in difi'erent proportions the same sub- 
