Part 23 (1/2)

3. =Cornus mascula=, Dur. (CORNELIAN CHERRY.) Leaves opposite, oval-ac.u.minate, rather p.u.b.escent on both surfaces. Flowers small, yellow, in umbels from a 4-leaved involucre, blooming before the leaves are out in spring. Fruit oval, in. long, cornelian-colored, ripe in autumn, rather sweet, used in confectionery. A large shrub or low tree, 8 to 15 ft. high, with hard, tough, flexible wood, sometimes cultivated for its early flowers and late, beautiful fruit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: C. alterniflia.]

4. =Cornus alterniflia=, L. f. (ALTERNATE-LEAVED CORNEL.) Leaves alternate, cl.u.s.tered at the ends of the branches, ovate or oval-ac.u.minate, tapering at base, whitish with minute p.u.b.escence beneath. Cymes of flowers and fruit broad and open. Fruit deep blue on reddish stalks. Shrub, though occasionally tree-like, 8 to 25 ft. high; on hillsides throughout; rarely cultivated.

GENUS =46. NSSA.=

Trees with deciduous, alternate, exstipulate, usually entire leaves, mostly acute at both ends. Flowers somewhat dioecious, i.e. staminate and pistillate flowers on separate trees. The staminate flowers are quite conspicuous because so densely cl.u.s.tered. April and May. Fruit on but a portion of the trees, consisting of one or two small ( to in.), drupes in the axils of the leaves. Stone roughened with grooves. Ripe in autumn.

* Fruit usually cl.u.s.tered 1, 2.

* Fruit solitary 3.

[Ill.u.s.tration: N. sylvatica.]

1. =Nssa sylvatica=, Marsh. (PEPPERIDGE. BLACK OR SOUR GUM.) Leaves oval to obovate, pointed, entire (sometimes angulate-toothed beyond the middle), rather thick, s.h.i.+ning above when old, 2 to 5 in. long. The leaves are crowded near the ends of the branches and flattened so as to appear 2-ranked, like the Beech; turning bright crimson in the autumn.

Fruit ovoid, bluish-black, about in. long, sour. Medium-sized tree with mainly an excurrent trunk and horizontal branches. Wood firm, close-grained and hard to split. Rich soil, lat.i.tude of Albany and southward. Difficult to transplant, so it is rarely cultivated.

2. =Nssa biflra=, Walt. (SOUR GUM.) Leaves 1 to 3 in. long, smaller than in N. sylvatica; fertile flowers and fruit 1 to 3, in the axils; stone decidedly flattened and more strongly furrowed. New Jersey to Tennessee and southward. Too nearly like the last to need a drawing. All the species of Nyssa may have the margin of the leaves somewhat angulated, as shown in the next.

[Ill.u.s.tration: N. uniflra.]

3. =Nssa uniflra=, w.a.n.g. (LARGE TUPELO.) Leaves much larger, 4 to 12 in. long, sometimes slightly cordate at base, entire or angularly toothed, downy beneath. Fruit solitary, oblong, blue, 1 in. or more in length. Wood soft, that of the roots light and spongy and used for corks. In water or wet swamps; Virginia, Kentucky, and southward.

ORDER =XXIII. CAPRIFOLIaCEae.=

(HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY.)

Shrubs (rarely herb or tree-like plants) of temperate regions.

GENUS =47. VIBuRNUM.=

Shrubs or small trees with opposite, simple, petioled leaves. Flowers light-colored, small but in large, conspicuous, flat-topped cl.u.s.ters at the ends of the branches; blooming in early summer. Fruit small, 1-seeded drupes with flattened stones; ripe in autumn.

* Leaves distinctly palmately lobed 1.

* Leaves pinnately veined and not lobed. (=A.=)

=A.= Coa.r.s.ely dentated 2.

=A.= Finely serrated. (=B.=)

=B.= Leaves long-ac.u.minated 3.

=B.= Obtuse or slightly pointed 4.