Cornus
florida Linnaeus
Common
names: flowering dogwood.
Synonyms: Cynoxylon floridum (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ex
B.D. Jackson.
Family: Cornaceae.
Brief
description:
Flowering dogwood is the state "flower" of North Carolina
and several other states. The "flower" referred to, however,
is really a cluster of small flowers (each no more than one-quarter
inch across and greenish) that has four large white showy bracts (modified
leaves) around it--so the North Carolina state "flower"
is really an "inflorescence" (a group of flowers). Each
flower produces a red fruit that is rich in calories and an important
source of energy for migrating birds in the fall. Dogwood leaves are
opposite, unlobed, simple, and entire (no teeth or jagged cuts on
the edge), with veins that curve to parallel the leaf edge. The leaves
turn a pale to dark purple red in the fall. Dogwoods grow both in
shady forests and in the open sunlight--they tend to have more flowers
with more sun and also it is in the sun that they are most resistant
to a new disease, dogwood anthracnose, that was accidentally imported
from Asia.
USDA
Profile
Herbarium
sheet images:
Live
specimen images:
Branchlet with
leaves Individual
leaf Branchlet
with leaf buds Close-up
of leaf bud Branchlet
with flower buds Close-up
of flower bud Flowers
Close-up of
flowers Branchlet
with fruits Close-up
of fruits