=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. [Illustration: PLATE LXXIX.--Cornus florida.] 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.