ish head. Common on high ground throughout, and one of the
finest small trees in cultivation. A variety with the bracts quite red
is also cultivated.

[Illustration: C. alba.]

2. =Cornus alba=, L. (SIBERIAN RED-STEMMED CORNEL.) Leaves broadly
ovate, acute, densely pubescent beneath; drupes white; branches
recurved, bright red, rendering the plant a conspicuous object in the
winter. A shrub rather than a tree, cultivated from Siberia; hardy
throughout.

[Illustration: C. mascula.]

3. =Cornus mascula=, Dur. (CORNELIAN CHERRY.) Leaves opposite,
oval-acuminate, rather pubescent on both surfaces. Flowers small,
yellow, in umbels from a 4-leaved involucre, blooming before the leaves
are out in spring. Fruit oval, 1/2 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.

[Illustration: C. alternifolia.]

4. =Cornus alternifolia=, L. f. (ALTERNATE-LEAVED CORNEL.) Leaves
alternate, clustered at the ends of the branches, ovate or
oval-acuminate, tapering at base, whitish with minute pubescence
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. NYSSA.=

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 clustered. April and May. Fruit on
but a portion of the trees, consisting of one or two small (1/4 to 1/2
in.), drupes in the axils of the leaves. Stone roughened with grooves.
Ripe in autumn.

* Fruit usually clustered 1, 2.

* Fruit solitary 3.

[Illustration: N. sylvatica.]

1. =Nyssa sylvatica=, Marsh. (PEPPERIDGE. BLACK OR SOUR GUM.) Leaves
oval to obovate, pointed, entire (sometimes angulate-toothed beyond the
middle), rather thick, shining 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 1/2 in. long, sour. Medium-sized tree
with mainly an excu