DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
229 
The Dogwood Tree. Cornus. 
Nat. Ord. Cornaceae. Lin. Syst. Tetrandria, Monogynia. 
There are a number of small shrubs that belong to this 
genus, but the common Dogwood (Cornus florida) is the 
only species which has any claims to rank as a tree. In 
the middle states, where it abounds, as well as in most 
other parts of the Union, the maximum height is thirty- 
five feet, while its ordinary elevation is about twenty feet. 
The Dogwood is quite a picturesque small tree, and owes 
its interest chiefly to the beauty of its numerous blossoms 
and fruit. The leaves are oval, about three inches long, 
dark green above, and paler below. In the beginning of 
May, while the foliage is beginning to expand rapidly, and 
before the tree is in full leaf, the flowers unfold, and 
present a beautiful spectacle, often covering the whole tree 
with their snowy garniture. The principal beauty of 
these consists in the involucrum or calyx, which, instead 
of being green, as is commonly the case, in the Dogwood 
takes a white or pale blue tint. The true flowers may be 
seen collected in little clusters, and are, individually, quite 
small, though surrounded by the involucrum, which 
produces all the effect of a fine white blossom. 
In the early part of the season, the Dogwood is one of 
the gayest ornaments of bur native woods. It is seen at 
that time to great advantage in sailing up the Hudson 
river. There, in the abrupt Highlands, which rise boldly 
many hundred feet above the level of the river, patches of 
the Dogwood in full bloom gleam forth in snowy whiteness 
from among the tender green of the surrounding young 
foliage, and the gloomier shades of the dark evergreens, 
