elliptic, of a bright shining scarlet colour, the size and form of a small olive or acorn, very styptic in its immature state. (Don's Mill., iii . p. 400.) It is a native throughout Europe, Britain excepted, and in 768 the north of Asia, in hedges and among bushes; and in France, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Piedmont, &c. A shrub or low tree, growing from 12 ft. to 20 ft. high; introduced in 1596; and flowering from February to April. Varieties. 1 C. m. 2 frúctu cèræ colòris N. Du Ham., ii. p. 162., has the fruit of a wax colour. This variety is not common in British gardens. 1 C. m. 3 variegatus has the leaves edged with white or yellow. Description. The cornel tree, or cornelian cherry, in a wild state, is seldom found above 10 ft. or 12 ft. high ; but it attains twice that height in a state of culture. It has ash-coloured pubescent shoots, ovate-lanceolate leaves, and yellow flowers, which, in mild winters, come out in January or February; and the greater part of which, in trees not exceeding twelve or fifteen years of age, have only stamens, and drop off without producing fruit. The fruit ripens in September or October, but is not frequently seen in England. It is about the size of a small acorn, and of a fine, rich, transparent scarlet : it remains a long time on the tree after it is ripe, and is very ornamental. The growth of the tree is remarkably slow after the first ten or twelve years; and its duration is so great, that it is said to live for centuries. It is an irregularheaded tree, furnished with numerous branches; and when it has attained a sufficient age to bear fruit, it is generally about the size of an ordinary apple tree. When it begins to bear, the fruit is produced in tolerable alundance. Geography and History. The cornel tree is a native of the middle and south of Europe, of Siberia, and the west of Asia, in woods and hedges, generally on soils more or less calcareous. It was known to the ancients, being mentioned by Homer as one of the trees that bear the coarsest fruit, in his Odyssey (book x. ver. 242.); where he represents Circe as throwing it, with acorns and beech mast, to the companions of Ulysses, after she had transformed them into swine. Virgil calls it the “meagre food,” and couples it with other “savage berries of the wood.” Pliny speaks of it as a tree indigenous in Italy, the wood of which was nearly equal to iron in its hardness and fitness for making wedges and wooden pins. The Romans also used it, he says, for making spokes to their wheels. The first notice of its being in England is in Turner's Herbal. Tusser mentions the fruit une the name of cornel plums; and Lord Bacon, as cornelians. Gerard, in 1597, says, “ There be sundry trees of the cornel in the gardens of such as love rare and dainty plants, whereof I have a tree or two in my garden.” Miller, in 1752, says, “ The tree is common in English gardens, where it is propagated for its fruit, which is made into tarts, and used in medicine as an astringent and cooler.” In a subsequent edition of his Dictionary, he mentions the cornel as being chiefly cultivated as an ornamental shrub, which is the principal purpose for which it is at present propagated throughout Europe. Properties and Uses. The wood has been, in all ages, celebrated for its hardness and durability; and it is at the same time tough and flexible. In a dry state, it weighs 69 lb. 5 oz. to the cubic foot. The heart-wood is of a brownish tint; and the soft wood white, with a slight tint of red. In ancient times, it was much in repute as shafts for javelins; and both Homer and Virgil mention its use for these weapons. In France, when it can be procured of sufficient size, it is used in mill-work, especially as cogs for wheels, and for all the various purposes to which the wood of Sorbus doméstica is applied. The small branches are said to make the most durable spokes for ladders, wooden forks for turning the grain on barn floors, and for making u hay ; hoops, props for vines, butchers’ skewers, and toothpicks. The wooden forks are made by selecting branches which divide into three near the extremity; and, after cutting the branch to a proper length, which is commonly about 5 ft. or 6 ft., the bark is taken off, and the three branches which are to form the prongs are bent so as to form a triangle, like the wooden corn forks of England. In this state they are put into a hot oven, where they are kept till they are hardened, so as to retain the shape given to them. Similar hay and straw forks are made of the nettle tree in France, and of the willow in various parts of England, by the same procedure. The wood of the cornel, like that of all the species of the genus, makes excellent fuel and charcoal; and the young shoots form a good substitute for those of the willow, in making baskets and tying up packages of various kinds. In France and Germany, brooms are made of the spray; but only in those parts of the country where neither the birch nor the Cytisus scoparius is to be found. The fruit, when thoroughly ripe, is somewhat sweet, and not disagreeable to eat ; and, on the Continent, it is frequently used in confectionery, and for making marmalades, robs, and liqueurs. It is mixed with apples and pears for making cider; and, gathered in a green state, and treated like green olives, it is preserved in salt and water, as a substitute for that pickle. In a ripe state, treated like ripe olives, it yields an oil, which may be used for various purposes, but not for the table. A conserve, called rob de cornis, was formerly sold in most druggists' shops in Europe; but it is now rarely to be met with, even in Germany, where the tree is most plentiful. As an ornamental tree, the cornel is valuable, not only on account of its early flowering, and the fine display made by its ripe fruit, but because it is a low tree, and one which, after it has attained the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft., is of slow growth, and of very great duration. For these last reasons, it is particularly suitable for small suburban gardens, in which it will form a fit associate for small trees of Cratæ'gus, Bérberis, Rhamnus, Euonymus, Hamamelis, &c. Poetical Allusions, fc. The cornel tree was dedicated to Apollo; and Pausanias mentions that there was a festival celebrated in honour of Apollo at Lacedæmonia, called Cornus, which was instituted by the Greeks, to appease the anger of the god at their cutting down a grove of cornel trees consecrated to him on Mount Ida. The Palatine Hill was also formerly a place exclusively devoted to Apollo; and, when Romulus had fixed on that spot for his infant city, he threw his javelin, made of cornel wood, against the hill, when it had no sooner entered the ground than it sent forth leaves and branches, and became a tree: an omen of the strength and durability of the Roman empire Virgil says that, when Polydore was murdered, the lances and javelins which had pierced his body, and which had all been formed of myrtle and cornel wood, also sprang up into trees. When Æneas and his followers landed in Thrace, they found this grove; and Æneas attempted to pull up one of these trees; but, he says, Black bloody drops distill'd upon the ground. Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood, Warn'a by my fate - for I am Polydore!" It is rather curious that the last two fables, which turn on pieces of dry wood suddenly taking root and becoming trees, should be told of plants of such remarkably slow growth as the myrtle and the cornel. But perhaps they have been chosen partly on this account, to make the wonder seem greater. Propagation, Culture, 8c. In British nurseries, plants are generally raised from seed; for which reason, they are very long before they come into flower. The seed remains two years in the ground before it comes up, and should therefore be kept a year in the rotting ground, as directed for haws, and holly berries. (See p.513.) Plants are also raised from layers and suckers. If a variety, with the fruit of superior quality, could be discovered in the woods of France, or in the ancient gardens of convents and châteaus, which still exist in some places in Germany, it would be desirable to continue such a variety by grafting; and this mode is also applicable to the varieties with wax-coloured fruit, with white fruit, with fleshy round fruit, and with variegated leaves, mentioned by Du Hamel. The situation for the cornel tree should be open, but sheltered rather than exposed ; and the soil ought to be good, and more or less calcareous. Statistics. In the environs of London, there are plants in the arboretum at Kew 15 ft. high; and others,of similardimensions, at Purser's Cross, Ham House, and some other places : but, all these trees being crowded among others, they seldom produce fruit. Between Hampstead and Hendon, in the garden of a villa occupied by Lord Henley, there is a tree which produces fruit annually. The only return which we have had of this tree, from any part of England, is from Grimston, in Yorkshire, where a tree, 14 years planted, is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 7 in., and of the head 14 t.' Phillips, in his Syl. Flor., p. 186., mentions two trees at Cowfold in Sussex, of the size of moderate cherry or apple trees, which bad been abundant bearers for upwards of 30 years. On the Continent, and especially in the south of Germany, most old gardens contain one or two speci. mens of this tree. On October 23. 1828, whe we were on a journey from Donaueschingen to Bavaria, we stopped to look at the gardens of the ancient Château of Maskirch; and, in a small enclosure close to the château, we found a labyrinth, the hedge of which consisted entirely of Córnus más, with standard trees of the same species at regular distances, which were at that time bearing ripe fruit, which we tasted, and found of very good flavour. 'Later in the same year, we were shown, in the grounds of the Castle of Heidelberg, the famous cornelian cherry trees which were planted there in 1650, already mentioned, p. 147. * 10. C. FLO'RIDA L. The Florida Dogwood. Identification. Lin. Sp., 1661. ; L'Hérit. Corn., No. 3. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 400.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. Synonyme. Virginian Dogwood. Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 526. ; Catesb. Car., t. 27.; Bigel. Med. Bot., 2. t. 28.; Guimp. Abb. Holz.. t. 19. ; Rafin. Med. Bot., t. 28. ; Schmidt Baum., 2. t. 52. ; Wang. Beytr., 1. t. 17. f. 41. ; and our fig. 769. Spec. Char., &c. Branches shining. Leaves ovate, acuminated, pale beneath, beset with adpressed hairs on both surfaces. Flowers umbellate, protruded after the leaves. Leaves of involucre large, roundish, retuse, or nearly obcordate. Pomes ovate. Leaves of involucre white. Flowers greenish yellow, and very large. Pomes scarlet, about half the size of those of C. más; ripe in August. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 400.) It is a native of North America, from Carolina to Canada, in woods, common; and on the banks of the Columbia, near its confluence with the sea. A tree, growing to the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft. It was introduced in 1731, and flowers in April and May. Description. Córnus fórida is universally allowed to be the handsomest species of the genus. In its native country, it forms a tree reaching, in the most favourable situations, 30 ft. or 35 ft. in height, with a trunk 9 in. or 10 in. in diameter; but, in general, it does not exceed the height of 18 ft. or 20 ft., with a trunk of 4 in. or 5 in. in diameter. Michaux describes the trunk as “strong, and covered with a blackish bark, chapped into many small portions, which are often in the shape of squares more or less exact. The branches are proportionally less numerous than on other trees, and are regularly disposed, nearly in the form of crosses. The young twigs are observed 769 to incline upwards in a semicircular direction. The leaves are opposite, about 3in. in length, oval, of a dark green above, and whitish beneath; the upper surface is very distinctly sulcated. Towards the close of summer, they are often marked with black spots; and at the approach of winter they change to a dull red. In New York and New Jersey, the flowers are fully expanded about the 10th or 15th of May, when the leaves are only beginning to unfold themselves. The flowers are small, yellowish, and connected in bunches, which are surrounded with a very large involucre, composed of 4 white floral leaves, sometimes inclining to violet. This fine involucre constitutes all the beauty of the flowers, which are very numerous, and which, in their season, robe the tree in white, like a full-blown apple tree, and render it one of the fairest ornaments of the American forests. Catesby, who first described this tree, says that the blossoms break forth in the beginning of March, being at first not so wide as a sixpence, but increasing gradually to the breadth of a man's hand; being not of their full bigness till about six weeks after they begin to open. The fruits, which are of a vivid glossy red, and of an oval shape, are always united : they remain upon the trees till the first frosts; when, notwithstanding their bitterness, they are devoured by the red-breasted thrush (Turdus migratòrius L.), which, about this period, arrives from the northern regions, and the mocking-bird (T. polyglóttus, L.), during the whole winter. In England, this tree does not thrive nearly so well as in its native country, seldom being found, in the neighbourhood of London, higher than 7 ft. or 8 ft., and vot often flowering; though at White Knights it attains a larger size, and flowers freely every year. Geography. In America, the Córnus flórida is first found on the Columbia river, near its confluence with the sea. In the United States, it appears in Massachusetts, between n. lat. 42° and 43o. “In proceeding southward, it is met with uninterruptedly throughout the eastern and western states, and the two Floridas, to the banks of the Mississippi. Over this vast extent of country it is one of the most common trees; and it abounds particularly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, wherever the soil is moist, gravelly, and somewhat uneven : farther south, in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, it is found only on the borders of swamps, and never in the pine barrens, where the soil is too dry and sandy to sustain its vegetation. In the most fertile districts of Kentucky and West Tennessee, it does not appear in the forest, except where the soil is gravelly, and of a middling quality. (Michr.) Mr. William Bartram, in his Travels in Georgia and Florida, gives the following account of the appearance of this tree near the banks of the Alabama river :“We now entered a remarkable grove of dogwood trees (Córnus flórida), which continued nine or ten miles unaltered, except here and there by a toweriug Magnòlia grandiflora. The land on which they stand is an exact level; the surface a shallow, loose, black mould, on a stratum of stiff yellowish clay. These trees were about 12 ft. high, spreading horizontally; and their limbs meeting, and interlocking with each other, formed one vast, shady, cool grove, so dense and humid as to exclude the sunbeams, and prevent the intrusion of almost every other vegetable ; affording us a most desirable shelter from the fervid sunbeams at noonday. This admirable grove, by way of eminence, has acquired the name of the Dog Woods. During a progress of nearly seventy miles through this high forest, there was constantly presented to view, on one hand or the other, spacious groves of this fine flowering tree, which must, in the spring season, when covered with blossoms, exhibit a most pleasing scene; when, at the same time, a variety of other sweet shrubs display their beauty, adorned in their gay apparel; as the Halèsia, Stewartia, 'sculus, Pàvia, Azalea, &c., entangled with garlands of Técoma crucigera, T. radicans, Gelsèmium sempervirens, Wistària frutescens, Caprifolium sempervìrens, &c.; and, at the same time, the superb Magnòlia grandiflora, standing in front of the dark groves, towering far above the common level.” (Bartram's Travels, p. 400.) p. History. This fine tree was first discovered in Virginia, by Banister; and afterwards, by Catesby, in the forests of Carolina. It was cultivated in Britain by Fairchild, before 1731 ; and by Miller, in 1739; and has since been propagated, and introduced into our principal collections. As already observed, however, it does not thrive in the neighbourhood of London. The only instances, of which we have heard, of its flowering near the metropolis are, at South Lodge, on Enfield Chase, where Collinson informs us he went to see it when it Powered for the first time; at Syon Hill; and at Syon House. Miller, in 1752, says that the tree is common in English gardens, under the name of Virginian dogwood, that it is as hardy as any of the other species; and that, though it produces abundance of large leaves, it is not plentiful of flowers nor has he yet seen any plants which have produced fruit in England. There is a fine specimen at Syon Hill, upwards of 20 ft. high; and another at Syon House, 17 ft. high, both of which have flowered. There are many plants, from 6 ft. to 12 ft. high, in the grounds at White Knights, which Hower freely every year. Properties and Uses. The wood is hard, compact, heavy, and fine-grained ; and it is susceptible of a brilliant polish. The sap-wood is perfectly white, and the heart-wood is of a chocolate colour. In the United States, it is used for the handles of hammers and light tools, such as mallets, &c. In the country, some farmers use it for harrow teeth, for the hames of horses' collars, and also for lining the runners of sledges; but, to whatever purpose it is applied, being liable to split, it should never be wrought till it is perfectly seasoned. The shoots, when three or four years old, are found suitable for the light hoops of small portable casks; and, in the middle states, the cogs of millwheels are made of them, and the forked branches are taken for the yokes which are put upon the necks of swine, to prevent their breaking into cultivated enclosures. The inner bark is extremely bitter, and proves an excellent remedy intermitting fevers. It has been known, and successfully used, by the country people in the United States, as a specific in these maladies, for more than fifty years. (Bigelow's Amer. Bot., ii. 74.) Half an ounce of dogwood bark, 2 scruples of sulphate of iron, and 2 scruples of gum arabic, infused in 16 ounces of rain-water, make an excellent ink. (Michx.) From the bark of the more fibrous roots the Indians obtain a good scarlet colour; and Bartram informs us (vol. i. p.51.) that the young branches, stripped of their bark, and rubbed with their ends against the teeth, render them extremely white. In England, the sole use of this species is as an ornamental shrub; and, wherever it will thrive, few better deserve a place in collections. Soil, Situation, Propagation, fc. This species thrives best in a peat soil which must be kept moist; and the situation should be sheltered, though the foliage of the plants must be fully exposed to the influence of the sun, otherwise they will not flower. They are propagated by cuttings or layers, both of which readily strike root. Plants, in the Fulham Nursery, cost Is. 6d. each ; at Bollwyller, 1 franc and 50 cents; and at New York, 371, cents. GENUS II. BENTHA'MIA Lindl. The BENTHAMIA. Lin. Syst. Tetrándria Monogynia. Identification. Lindl. in Bot. Reg., t. 1579. Synonyme. Córnus sp. Wall., Dec., and G. Don. Derivation. Named in honour of George Bentham, Esq., F.L.S., Secretary to the Horticultural Society; and nephew of the celebrated moralist and jurist, Jeremy Bentham, 1 1. B. FRAGI'FERA Lindl., The Strawberry-bearing Benthamia, Córnus capitàta Wall. in Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. p. 434., D. Don Fl. Prod. Nepal., 141., and G. Don's Mill., iii. p. 399., Bot. Reg., t. 1579., and our fig. 770., has the branches spreading, and the leaves smooth, lanceolate, and acuminated at both ends, coriaceous, 2 in. long, glaucous and pale beneath, sometimes with pink-coloured nerves. The flowers are terminal, congregated into globular heads, surrounded by an involucre 2 in. across when expanded, and composed of 4 yellowish-coloured parts, resembling petals : the flowers themselves are greenish, small, and inconspicuous. The fruit, when ripe, is of a reddish colour, a good deal resembling that of the mulberry, but exceeding it considerably in size. The flesh is yellowish white, rather insipid, but not unpleasant, although a little |
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