Natural History

Flowering Dogwood

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cornales
Family: Cornaceae (dogwood family)
Genus Species: Cornus florida L.

Habit:
Small tree or large shrub, 5 to 10 m tall.

Leaves:
Opposite, simple
Egg-shaped to elliptic
Smooth edges
Arcuate veins (all veins are parallel to the leaf edges)

Bark:
Gray bark is broken into small blocks.
Looks like alligator skin.

Flowers:
Flower is small, inconspicuous
Large white "petals" are bracts (expanded bud scales) and are not technically part of the flower.
Flowers come out before leaves in the spring.

Fruits:
Clusters of green berries ripen to bright red in autumn
Berries are edible but flavorless

Twigs:
Slender, purplish.
Flower buds look like tiny urns.

Habitat:
Upland forests; grows in forest understory

Range:
Common from southern New England to the Lake States south.

Common Uses and Interesting Facts:

Dogwoods are soil improvers because they accumulate calcium.

Widely planted as ornamentals. Showy in springtime. Most wild trees have white "flowers" or bracts. Some selected cultivars have pink bracts.

Very susceptible to dogwood anthracnose, disease caused by a fungus. Fungus kills many wild trees. Ornamentals are also affected, but less so because of better air circulation and less humid conditions in domestic settings.

Dogwood flower. The white bracts surrounding the flower clusters
are unmistakable and very showy in mid-April. The actual flowers
are small and yellowish-green.

Dogwood fruit ripens to bright red in the autumn

Another view of dogwood fruit and leaves

Sources

written by Lauren Howard; edited by Vanessa Artman

photo credits: Vanessa Artman; www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/cofl.html

Harlow, W.M. 1942. Trees of the eastern and central United States and Canada. Dover Publications.

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