7. C. strícta, Lam. (Stiff Cornel.) A shrub 8–15° high; branches brownish or reddish, smooth; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, acutish at base, glabrous, of nearly the same hue both sides; cymes loose, flattish; anthers and fruit pale blue.—Swamps, Va. to Ga. and Fla. April, May.
8. C. paniculàta, L'Her. (Panicled Cornel.) Shrub 4–8° high, much branched; branches gray, smooth; leaves ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, acute at base, whitish beneath but not downy; cymes convex, loose, often panicled; fruit white, depressed-globose.—Thickets and river-banks. June.
9. C. alternifòlia, L. f. Shrub or tree 8–25° high; branches greenish streaked with white, the alternate leaves clustered at the ends, ovate or oval, long-pointed, acute at base, whitish and minutely pubescent beneath; cymes very broad and open; fruit deep blue on reddish stalks.—Hillsides in copses, N. Brunswick to Minn., south to Ga. and Ala. May, June.
2. NÝSSA, L. Tupelo. Pepperidge. Sour-Gum Tree.
Flowers diœciously polygamous, clustered or rarely solitary at the summit of axillary peduncles. Stam. Fl. numerous in a simple or compound dense cluster of fascicles. Calyx small, 5-parted. Petals as in fertile flower or none. Stamens 5–12, oftener 10, inserted on the outside of a convex disk; filaments slender; anthers short. No pistil. Pist. Fl. solitary, or 2–8, sessile in a bracted cluster, much larger than the staminate flowers. Calyx with a very short repand-truncate or minutely 5-toothed limb. Petals very small and fleshy, deciduous, or often wanting. Stamens 5–10, with perfect or imperfect anthers. Style elongated, revolute, stigmatic down one side. Ovary 1-celled. Drupe ovoid or oblong, with a bony and grooved or striate 1-celled and 1-seeded stone.—Trees with entire or sometimes angulate-toothed leaves, which are alternate, but mostly crowded at the ends of the branchlets, and greenish flowers appearing with the leaves. (The name of a Nymph: "so called because it [the original species] grows in the water.")
1. N. sylvática, Marsh. (Tupelo. Pepperidge. Black or Sour Gum.) Middle-sized tree, with horizontal branches; leaves oval or obovate, commonly acuminate, glabrous or villous pubescent when young, at least on the margins and midrib, shining above when old (2–5´ long); fertile flowers 3–8, at the summit of a slender peduncle; fruit ovoid, acid, bluish-black (about ½´ long). (N. multiflora, Wang.)—Rich soil, either moist or nearly dry, S. Maine and N. Vt. to Mich., south to Fla. and Tex. April, May. Leaves turning bright crimson in autumn. Wood firm, close-grained and very unwedgeable, on account of the oblique direction and crossing of its fibres.
2. N. uniflòra, Wang. (Large Tupelo.) A large tree; leaves oblong or ovate, sometimes slightly cordate at base, long-petioled, entire or angulate-toothed, pale and downy-pubescent beneath, at least when young (4–12´ long); fertile flower solitary on a slender peduncle; fruit oblong, blue (1´ or more in length).—Deep swamps, S. Va. to S. Ill. and Mo., south to Fla. and Tex. April. Wood soft; that of the roots very light and spongy.
Division II. GAMOPETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.
Floral envelopes consisting of both calyx and corolla, the latter composed of more or less united petals, that is, gamopetalous.[A]
[Footnote A: In certain families, as in Ericaceæ, etc., the petals in some genera are nearly or quite separate. In Compositæ and some others, the calyx is mostly reduced to a pappus, or a mere border, or even to nothing more than a covering of the surface of the ovary. The student might look for these in the first or the third division; but the artificial analysis prefixed to the volume provides for such anomalies, and will lead him to the proper order.]