Tetrandria monogynia, Linn. Caprifolia, Juss. 
Cornus florîda. C. foliis ovaKbus^ acumînatîs subtiis aJMcaniibis : floribus 
sessiliter capitatis ; involucro maximo^foliolis apice deformi quasi obcorda- 
tis : fructibus ovatis, rubris. 
Among the eight species of Dogwood which have been observed in 
North America, this alone is entitled by its size to be classed with the 
forest trees. It is the most interesting, too, for the value of its wood, the 
properties of its bark, and the beauty of its flowers. In the United States 
at large, it is known by the name of Dogwood, and in Connecticut it is 
also called Box Wood. 
The Dogwood is first seen in Massachusetts, between the 42d and 43d 
degrees of latitude, and in proceeding southward, it is met with uninter- 
ruptedly throughout the Eastern and Western States, and the two Floridas, 
to the banks of the Mississippi. Over this vast extent of country, it is one 
of the most common trees, and it abounds particularly in New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, wherever the soil is moist, gravelly, 
and somewhat uneven ; further south, in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the 
Floridas, it is found only on the borders of swamps, and never in the pine 
barrens, where the soil is too dry and sandy to sustain its vegetation. In 
the most fertile districts of Kentucky and West Tennessee, it does not 
appear in the forests, except where the soil is gravelly and of a middling 
quality. 
The Dogwood sometimes reaches 30 or 35 feet in height, and 9 or 10 
inches in diameter; but it does not generally exceed the height of 18 or 
20 feet, and the diameter of 4 or 5 inches. The trunk is strong, and is 
covered with a blackish bark, chapped into small portions, wdiich are often 
in the shape of squares more or less exact. The branches are proportion- 
ally less numerous than on other trees, and are regularly disposed nearly 
in the form of crosses. The young twigs are observed to incline upwmrds 
in a semicircular direction. 
The leaves are opposite, about 3 inches in length, oval, of a dark green 
above, and whitish beneath ; the upper surface is very distinctly sulcated. 
Toward the close of summer, they are often marked with black spots, and 
at the approach of winter they change to a dull red. 
In New York and New Jersey, the flowers are fully blown about the 
