=A.= Fruit in close head-like clusters, red when ripe 1. =A.= Fruit in open clusters. (=B.=) =B.= Branches bright red; fruit white 2. =B.= Branches brownish; fruit bright red 3. * Leaves alternate; fruit blue 4. [Illustration: C. flórida.] 1. =Córnus flórida=, L. (FLOWERING DOGWOOD.) Leaves ovate, pointed, acutish at base. Flowers in a head surrounded by 4 white bracts, making the whole cluster look like a single large flower 3 in. broad. Abundant in May and June. Fruit a small, bright red drupe with a single 2-seeded nut. Ripe in August. A large shrub or low tree 15 to 40 ft. high, with broad, roundish 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. álba.] 2. =Córnus álba=, 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. máscula.] 3. =Córnus máscula=, 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, ½ 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. alternifòlia.] 4. =Córnus alternifòlia=, 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. NÝSSA.= 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 (¼ to ½ 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. sylvática.]