LARGE-FLOWERED DOGWOOD.
Cornus Nuttallii, Audubon. Dogwood Family.
Shrubs or trees, fifteen to seventy feet high. Leaves.—Opposite; obovate; acute at each end; three to five inches long. Flowers.—Numerous; small; greenish; in a head surrounded by an involucre of four to six large, yellowish or white bracts, often tinged with red, and eighteen lines to three inches long. Calyx.—Four-toothed. Petals and Stamens.—Four. Ovary.—Two-celled. Fruit.—Scarlet; five or six lines long. Hab.—The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Monterey and Plumas Counties to British Columbia.
Our large-flowered dogwood more nearly resembles the Eastern C. florida than any other species, but it is a much handsomer shrub than the latter. It reaches its maximum size in Northern Oregon and Washington, where, in the season of its blossoming, it is a sight never to be forgotten. Its masses of large white flowers, like single Cherokee roses, contrast finely with the deep, rich greens of the fir forests, in which it often grows. In its northern range, its leaves turn beautifully, and it becomes one of the most brilliant masqueraders in the autumn pageant.
The wood is very hard, close-grained, and tough, and is used as a substitute for boxwood in the making of bobbins and shuttles for weaving, and also in cabinet-work.