Part 60

BARK.--Twigs smooth, reddish gray, becoming dark gray or brown; dark gray and smooth on young stems, on old trunks thick, deeply furrowed into broad, scaly ridges.

WOOD.--Light, soft, close-grained, tough, light red-brown, with thick sapwood of nearly the same color.

DISTRIBUTION.--Common in most parts of the Lower Peninsula, frequent in the Upper Peninsula.

HABITAT.--Prefers rich, well-drained, loamy soils.

NOTES.--Rapid in growth. Easily transplanted. Recommended for street and ornamental planting.

+SUMMER KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CORNUS+

a. Leaves mostly alternate; branches usually greenish; flowers not surrounded by large petal-like bracts; fruit globular, blue, borne many in loose clusters. C. alternifolia, p. 207.

aa. Leaves opposite; branches usually reddish or yellowish; flowers surrounded by large petal-like bracts; fruit ovoid, scarlet, borne in close clusters of 3-4. C. florida, p. 205.

+WINTER KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CORNUS+

a. Leaf-scars mostly alternate; buds light brown; branches usually greenish. C. alternifolia, p. 207.

aa. Leaf-scars opposite; buds greenish; branches usually reddish or yellowish. C. florida, p. 205.

1. Winter twig, with leaf buds, × 1. 2. Portion of twig, enlarged. 3. Winter twig, with flower bud, × 1. 4. Leaf, × 1/2. 5. Flowering branchlet, × 1/2. 6. Flower, enlarged. 7. Fruit, × 1.]

+CORNACEAE+

+Flowering Dogwood. Dogwood. Boxwood+

Cornus florida L.

HABIT.--A bushy tree with a height of 15-30 feet and a short trunk 8-12 inches in diameter; slender, spreading branches form a flat-topped crown.

LEAVES.--Opposite, closely clustered at the ends of the branchlets, simple, 3-5 inches long, 2-3 inches broad; ovate to elliptical; obscurely wavy-toothed; thick and firm; bright green, covered with minute, appressed hairs above, pale and more or less pubescent beneath, turning bright scarlet in autumn; petioles short, grooved.

FLOWERS.--May, with the leaves; perfect; greenish; in dense clusters, surrounded by 4 large, white or pinkish, petal-like bracts (often mistaken for the corolla), borne on short, stout peduncles; calyx 4-lobed, light green; petals 4, yellow-green; stamens 4, alternate with the petals; ovary 2-celled.

FRUIT.--October; an ovoid, scarlet drupe, borne in close clusters of 3-4; flesh is bitter.

WINTER-BUDS.--Leaf-buds narrow-conical, acute, greenish; flower-buds spherical or vertically flattened, grayish.

BARK.--Twigs pale green, becoming red or yellow-green their first winter, later becoming light brown or red-gray; red-brown or blackish on the trunk, often separating into quadrangular, plate-like scales.

WOOD.--Heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained, brownish, with thick, lighter colored sapwood.

DISTRIBUTION.--Southern Michigan as far north as the Grand-Saginaw Valley.

HABITAT.--Prefers rich, well-drained soil, usually under the shade of other trees.

NOTES.--A valuable species for ornamental purposes. Rather slow of growth.

1. Winter twig, × 1. 2. Portion of twig, enlarged. 3. Leaf, × 3/4. 4. Flowering branchlet, × 1/2. 5. Flower, enlarged. 6. Fruiting branchlet, × 1/2.]

+CORNACEAE+

+Blue Dogwood. Alternate-leaved Dogwood+