268 St. Andrew’s cross
CACTUS FAMILY
269. PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS (Opuntia Sp.) a shrub, common in meadows and dry woods. Branches (joints): broad, flat, green, spiny and somewhat leaflike. True LEAVES: small, fleshy, thick scales, early deciduous. Flowers: 2 to 5 inches across, having many glossy, yellow petals and numerous stamens. Fruit: reddish, prickly, about an inch across and slightly longer. This shrub is a valued forage crop in many parts of western Texas, after the spines have been burned off with a blow torch.
DOGWOOD FAMILY
270. FLOWERING DOGWOOD (Cornus florida L.) shrub or small tree, very rare; usually in rocky or sandy woods, often with cedar. Leaves: simple, 2 to 5 inches long, 1¼ to 2 wide, opposite, mostly in clusters at the ends of branches; entire or nearly so, veins prominent beneath. Twigs: distinguished in winter by the pale “flat turnip-shaped” flower buds; bright red or yellowish green, slender. Bark: furrowed and breaking into somewhat rectangular plates; astringent and aromatic, used in medicine. Branches: usually horizontally spreading and upcurved at tips. Flowers: greenish yellow, small, in dense heads surrounded by 4 large, white, notched, petal-like bracts; in March and April. Fruit: dense clusters of glossy, scarlet, oval berries, about ½ inch long. Wood: heavy, hard, strong, very close-grained; for turnery, tool handles, forms for metal-spinners for which last it is sold by the pound.
271. DWARF or ROUGH-LEAF DOGWOOD (Cornus asperifolia Michx.) a large shrub, or rarely a small tree, common and widespread, preferring lowlands. Leaves: simple, opposite, nearly entire, rough above, paler and downy beneath, 2 to 4 inches long, ovate or oblong. Twigs: bright red in winter, rough or with whitish pubescence. Bark: thin, narrowly ridged, with close, dark red-brown scales. Flowers: small, white, in flat-topped clusters, in April or May following black haw flowers which they resemble. Fruit: small, white, on reddish stems, ripe late summer and fall. Wood: heavy, hard, strong, fine-grained; adapted for turnery.
271 dwarf dogwood
SAPODILLA FAMILY
272. WOOLY BUMELIA, CHITTAM WOOD, or GUM ELASTIC (Bumelia lanuginosa Pers.) a common tree of widespread and varied habitat. Leaves: mostly blunt at apex, entire, 1 to 2½ inches long, dark and smooth above, whitish or sometimes rusty, wooly beneath, especially when young; tardily deciduous. Twigs: with small, scattered spines usually tipping the smallest twigs. Flowers: in July, whitish, inconspicuous. Fruit: ripe Sept. and Oct., oval, black, few or solitary; sweetish, with a single, dark brown, shining seed about ¼ inch across. Wood: hard, heavy, tough, smooth-grained.