126 
Spring Flora of Oklahoma 
FAMILY 64. CORNACEiE. Dogwood Family. 
Shrubs or trees, rarely herbs. Leaves opposite or 
alternate, without stipules. Flowers small, actinomor- 
phic, variously clustered. Limb of the calyx epigynous, 
very short. Petals 4-5, borne on the margin of a disk on 
top of the ovary. Stamens 4-5, inserted with the petals.- 
Ovary 1-4-celled, with one ovule in each cell. Style 1. 
Fruit a 1-2-celled and 1-2-seeded drupe. 
Flowers perfect, 4-parted; ovary 2-celled. 
I. Cornus. 
Flowers polygamous or dioecious; petals minute or 
none; ovary 1-celled. II. Nyssa. 
I. CORNUS (Tourn.) L. 
Shrubs or trees, with simple, mostly entire, opposite, 
verticillate or, rarely, alternate leaves, and small, white, 
greenish, or purple flowers, in cymes. Calyx-tube top¬ 
shaped or campanulate, its limb minutely 4-toothed. 
Petals 4, valvate. Stamens 4. Ovary 2-celled. Stigma 
truncate or capitate. Drupe ovoid or globular, the stone 
2-celled and 2-seeded. 
1. Cornus asperifolia Michx. Rough-leaved Dogwood. A shrub 
with reddish-brown twigs, the youngest rough-pubescent. Leaves 
slender-petioled, ovate-oval, or elliptic, acumulate at the apex, ob¬ 
tuse at the base, pale and woolly pubescent beneath, densely rough 
pubescent above, 1*4'-5' long. Cyme loose, 2'-3' broad. Petals white. 
Fruit globose, white, about 3" in diameter. 
Along streams. May-June. Common. 
II. NYSSA L. 
Trees or shrubs, with alternate-petioled, entire or den¬ 
tate leaves. Flowers small, greenish, polygamo-dioecious, 
in capitate clusters, short racemes or the fertile ones 
sometimes solitary. Staminate flowers numerous, the 
calyx small, 5-parted, the petals minute and fleshy. Sta¬ 
mens 5-15. Disk entire or lobed. Pistillate flowers 2-14, 
