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dogwood

Значение термина dogwood в knolik

dogwood - Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
dogwood - "The Cornell Tree that is planted in our orchards being the male (for the female is a hedge bush)." In this parenthesis Parkinson somewhat contemptuously alludes to the Dogwood.

Presumably his epithets "male" and "female" only refer to the difference in size, for there is no other "sex" distinction to be noted. And yet the Dogwood is by no means to be despised, in spite of the fact that it does not attain quite to the height of that small, non-British tree the Cornel (Cornus mas.). It often forms a handsome part of those composite hedgerows that border old roads, and it is a true native of our countryside. Twice in the year does it add its quota of beauty to them; once in early summer days when its creamy, flat clusters of flowers do a little, in a somewhat prim way, to fill in the blank that the passing of the glory of the snowy hawthorn always leaves; and secondly, in autumn time, when its foliage dyes with depths of rich crimson and red-purple tones that the trees may emulate but cannot surpass, those autumn days when -

"Every woodland tree is flushing like the Dogwood,
Flashing like the whitebeam, swaying like the reed;
Flushing like the Dogwood, crimson in October,
Streaming like the flag reed south-west blown.
Flashing as in gusts the sudden lighted whitebeam,
All seem to know what is for heaven alone."
(Swinburne.)

For these hues is the Dogwood's specific name - Sanguinea - given to it.

Though mostly but a shrub it may rise to as much as fourteen or fifteen feet in height. Its wood is hard and horn-like, hence the generic name Cornus (Latin, a horn), and its use for ramrods, cog-wheels and skewers. Hence, too, its country name of "Prickwood" and "Skewer-wood"; even its very name, Dogwood, is ultimately referable to this quality. And this in spite of the fact that inventive geniuses have asserted that it is called Dogwood because a wash made from its leaves was good for mangy dogs; and in spite of the still more brilliant suggestion of Parkinson that it was called Dogwood because its astringent berries were not fit even for dogs! "Dog" is really derived from the old English dagge - a dagger - and the Anglo-Saxon dale or dole, a brooch pin. It was undoubtedly the wood our Anglo-Saxon forbears used for their "dags" or goads, since it was tough and hard, and so its name came down to us as Dogwood, or, as it should be, "Dagwood." And this view is borne out by the fact that in some parts of the country it has the synonyms "Gatter," or "Gaiter," or "Gadrise," derivatives of the Anglo-Saxon gad-treow, a goad-tree.

The old branches of the shrub are covered with brown bark scored with cracks, but the young shoots of the spring are a bright crimson, and a truly worthy support for the glossy, handsome leaves. Now, one may always know a Dogwood by its leaves, for they are a broad oval with sharp tip, and carry most characteristic veining, to wit a central midrib from which run three or four pairs of strongly marked lateral veins, that curve in more or less parallel fashion towards the tip. Each leaf has a short stalk and stands with a fellow in pairs along the stems. The individual pairs are arranged on the stem in such a way that they always get the maximum of sunlight. Hence on a horizontal branch they all lie on the same horizontal plane; in a vertical branch each pair is at right angles to the stem, and at right angles, too, to the pair above and below, while on branches at inter mediate angles the leaf-pairs take up corresponding intermediate positions.

The Dogwood is one of those plants that make small flowers, inconspicuous in themselves, a noticeable feature by massing them together. Individually each little flower has its tiny sepals united with the ovary wall, only their four teeth appearing. Its four white petals form a severe-looking cross. Between the petals four small stamens stretch like tiny rays. The little ovary contains two chambers, a potential seed in each, and it carries a single, rather thick style. The chief feature of the flower is the glistening honey gland, which forms a collar round the base of the style and a shining centre to the flower. A slight scent like that of the hawthorn clings about the clusters. This scent seems to be specially attractive to small flies, and it is these that chiefly form the Dogwood's visiting circle. They crawl over the clusters, licking up the honey pools that lie so invitingly exposed in every blossom, and, incidentally, trail the pollen from flower to flower and carry it from cluster to cluster.

The anthers open on the inside at the same time as the stigma matures to receive pollen, so no doubt both self- and cross-fertilisation happen. But, since the anthers at the end of the filament rays are situated some distance from the stigma, they would rub on the opposite side of the insect's body to that on which the stigma would rub, so that it is very likely an insect would place foreign pollen on the stigma before any of the flower's own would reach it. In the event of no insect coming the stamens rise from their almost horizontal position and stand over the stigma, thus ensuring self-fertilisation.

The flower clusters fade, the ovaries swell into green berries that, as September comes, turn to a black-purple, each on its crimson stalk, and form noticeable groups. There is not really much juiciness about these berries, for they contain a horny pill of a seed almost as large as the berry itself; at one time an oil was manufactured from them which gave a serviceable light in lamps. Soap of a certain value can also be made from them. Their juice is extremely acrid and staining. These berries are very reminiscent of those of the ivy, and, indeed, the families of the ivy and the Dogwood are closely akin. Closely akin, too, is the family of the honeysuckle. The Covnaceæ - to which the Dogwood belongs - is but a very small family and only known in Europe through the various Cornus species. Only two are wild in this country, the Dogwood and the Dwarf Cornel, the latter being just a little herb, with the tiniest white clusters, each more like a single flower, and the minutest of purple berries.

One of the many superstitions connected with St. John's Eve centres round the Dogwood. It is firmly held in Prussian country-lore that if one's handkerchief be allowed to absorb the sap of the Dogwood on that night all one's hopes and desires will be fulfilled.

Рядом со словом dogwood в knolik

dagwood

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