﻿This grows from 4 to 8 or 10 feet high. Branches opposite, 

 straight, round', smooth, the younger ones of a dark red colour, 

 especially on the side most exposed to the light. Leaves opposite, 

 stalked, quite entire, but sometimes a little waved at the margin, 

 egg-shaped, pointed, nearly smooth on the upper surface, more 

 hairy on the under, strongly nerved, with many transverse veins ; 

 they change to a blood-red colour before they fall. Cymes (tufts) 

 terminal, composed of numerous, greenish-white flowers, which 

 are rather unpleasantly scented. Calyx very small, 4-toothed. 

 Petals spear-shaped, revolute at the sides, inserted, with the sta- 

 mens, into a glandular, 4-lobed ring, which crowns the germen. 

 Fruit dark purple, very bitter, like every other part of the plant. A 

 variety with variegated leaves, is sometimes cultivated in gardens. 



Cornus sanguinea will grow under the drip of other trees, and 

 on that account it is a valuable shrub in close plantations. Its 

 flowers are not very showy ; but, as Mr. Phillips observes, the 

 variety of red, yellow, and umber tints which its foliage affords in 

 the Autumn, and the beautiful red colour of its young branches 

 during the Winter months, fully compensates for any want of 

 splendour in its blossoms. The English names of this shrub are 

 rather numerous. It is often called Female cornel, to distinguish 

 it from Cornus mascula ; and Hound's berry-tree ; Hound’s tree ; 

 Dog's berry-tree ; Prick-wood, from its use in making skewers. 

 Gatten-tree ; and Bloody-twig. It is the Virga sanguinea of an- 

 cient authors. 



The berries of this shrub are bitter and styptic ; they dye pur- 

 ple ; and the fleshy part of them abounds in oil, which in many 

 parts of the Continent is extracted by boiling and pressure, both 

 for burning and for table use. The wood is hard, and is made use 

 of for cart timber and rustic instruments, for mill-cogs, spokes, 

 lace-bobbings, butchers’ skewers, and tooth-picks. It also affords 

 one of the best charcoals for the manufacture of gunpowder. 



A small parasite, Sphce’ria cornicola, Frie’s Systema Mycolo- 

 ginum, v. ii. p. 530, is sometimes found on the leaves of this plant 

 about Oxford. 





