Flowering Dogwood Boxwood


=Habitat and Range.=--Woodlands, rocky hillsides, moist, gravelly

ridges.



Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.



Maine,--Fayette Ridge, Kennebec county; New Hampshire,--along the

Atlantic coast and very near the Connecticut river, rarely farther north

than its junction with the West river; Vermont,--southern and

southwestern sections, rare; Massachusetts,--occasional throughout the

> state, common in the Connecticut river valley, frequent eastward; Rhode

Island and Connecticut,--common.



South to Florida; west to Minnesota and Texas.



=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-30 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 6-10

inches. The spreading branches form an open, roundish head, the young

twigs curving upwards at their extremities. In spring, when decked with

its abundant, showy white blossoms, it is the fairest of the minor trees

of the forest; in autumn, scarcely less beautiful in the rich reds of

its foliage and fruit.



=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees blackish, broken-ridged, rough,

often separating into small, firm, 4-angled or roundish plates; branches

grayish, streaked with white lines; season's twigs purplish-green,

downy; taste bitter.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal leaf-buds narrowly conical, acute;

flower-buds spherical or vertically flattened, grayish. Leaves simple,

opposite, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, dark green above, whitish

beneath, turning to reds, purples, and yellows in the autumn, ovate to

oval, nearly smooth, with minute appressed pubescence on both surfaces;

apex pointed; base acutish; veins distinctly indented above, ribs

curving upward and parallel; leafstalk short-grooved.



=Inflorescence.=--May to June. Appearing with the unfolding leaves in

close clusters at the ends of the branches, each cluster subtended by

a very conspicuous 4-leafed involucre (often mistaken for the corolla

and constituting all the beauty of the blossom), the leaves of which are

white or pinkish, 1-1/2 inches long, obovate, curiously notched at the

rounded end. The real flowers are insignificant, suggesting the tubular

disk flowers of the Compositae; calyx-tube coherent with the ovary,

surmounting it by 4 small teeth; petals greenish-yellow, oblong,

reflexed; stamens 4; pistil with capitate style.



=Fruit.=--Ovoid, scarlet drupes, about 1/2 inch long, united in

clusters, persistent till late autumn or till eaten by the birds.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern and southern-central New

England, but liable farther north to be killed outright or as far down

as the surface of the snow; not only one of the most attractive small

trees on account of its flowers, habit, and foliage, but one of the most

useful for shady places or under tall trees. The species, a

red-flowering and also a weeping variety are obtainable in leading

nurseries. Collected plants can be made to succeed. It is a plant of

rather slow growth.






1. Leaf-buds.

2. Flower-buds.

3. Flowering branch.

4. Flower.

5. Fruiting branch.





=Cornus alternifolia, L. f.=



DOGWOOD. GREEN OSIER.



=Habitat and Range.=--Hillsides, open woods and copses, borders of

streams and swamps.



Nova Scotia and New Brunswick along the valley of the St. Lawrence

river to the western shores of Lake Superior.



Common throughout New England.



South to Georgia and Alabama; west to Minnesota.



=Habit.=--A shrub or small tree, 6-20 feet high, trunk diameter 3-6

inches; head usually widest near the top, flat; branches nearly

horizontal with lateral spray, the lively green, dense foliage lying in

broad planes.



=Bark.=--Trunk and larger branches greenish, warty, streaked with gray;

season's shoots bright yellowish-green or purplish, oblong-dotted.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, acute. Leaves simple, alternate

or sometimes opposite, clustered at the ends of the branchlets, 2-4

inches long, dark green on the upper side, paler beneath, with minute

appressed pubescence on both sides, ovate to oval, almost entire; apex

long-pointed; base acutish or rounded; veins indented above, ribs

curving upward and parallel; petiole long, slender, and grooved.



=Inflorescence.=--June. From shoots of the season, in irregular open

cymes; calyx coherent with ovary, surmounting it by 4 minute teeth;

corolla white or pale yellow, with the 4 oblong petals at length

reflexed: stamens 4, exserted; style short, with capitate stigma.



=Fruit.=--October. Globular, blue or blue black, on slender, reddish

stems.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England, adapting itself to

a great variety of situations, but preferring a soil that is constantly

moist. Nursery or good collected plants are easily transplanted. A

disease, similar in its effect to the pear blight, so often disfigures

it that it is not desirable for use in important plantations.






1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Flower with one petal and two stamens removed, side view.

4. Flower, view from above.

5. Fruiting branch.





=Nyssa sylvatica, Marsh.=



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