62 
NAT. ORDER. CAPRIFOLIACEjE. 
as the Comus Jlorida. It is usually given in the form of strong in- 
fusion. Of this from half to a whole wineglassful may be taken 
three or four times a day. The dose of the powder is from twenty 
to thirty grains. 
Almost all the species of this genus have more or less the same 
tonic properties, and may be substituted for the Cornus Jlorida. 
Three of the best known, as most efficient, will be here mentioned. 
Comas serieea, or Blueberry Cornel, vulgarly called Swamp 
Dogwood, or Rose Willow, is a shrub, from six to twelve feet high, 
growing from Canada to Virginia, near swamps and streams. The 
leaves are like those of the Cornus Jlorida, and silky beneath ; but 
the flowers are very different, being in large terminal cymes, without 
involucrum ; yellowish white, and succeeded by large clusters of 
small, round, blue berries. The bark is less bitter, more astringent, 
and pleasant to the taste than the Cornus Jlorida. 
Cornus circinnata, or Round-leaved Cornel, often called Alder 
Dogwood, is a shrub with warty twigs, large rounded leaves, and 
wooly beneath. The flowers are in cymes, without involucrum. It 
grows from Canada to Pennsylvania. Prof. E. Ives, of New Haven, 
and Dr. A. Ives of New- York, have highly extolled this variety : — 
they say it resembles the pale Peruvian bark, Cincliona lancifolia : 
an ounce of the bark yields by boiling 150 grains of an astringent 
and intensely bitter extract. In many uses it has been found pre- 
ferable to Colombo and Cinchona cordifolia. It is much employed 
in the northern states, in substance and otherwise, for diarrhoea, 
dyspepsia, &c, but is considered too heating in fevers. 
Cornus alba, or Wax-berry Cornel, is also a shrub, growing 
from New England to Siberia in Asia, with broad ovate leaves, white 
beneath, flowers in cymes, berries round, and white like wax. The 
Cornus canadensis is a small herbaceous plant, with a stem from six 
to eight inches in length, and leaves very much veined. It inhabits 
mountains, meadows and swamps ; and flowers in May and June. 
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