Flowering Dogwood

Cornus florida

Human Uses/ Environmental Benefits

The Flowering Dogwood produces fruit, the fruit is poisonous to humans but provide great benefit to animals. The Flowering Dogwood benefits animals more than humans. By providing a stable food source for them along with insects. It can also serve as a habitat. It benefits the environment because the flower on it produces pollen for pollinators. Often humans use this tree as a symbol of spring time.

Is it at risk for any diseases?

The fungus Elsinoe corni affects the Flowering Dogwood specifically attacking the leaves of the trees. The fungus causes the leaves to have tan, blotchy spots on it. Which then kills the leaves and twigs on the trees, in the worst case it will spread to bigger branches and the trunk of the tree which will then kill it. This is often heard as ¨Dogwood anthracnose¨.

History of the Flowering Dogwood

Flowering Dogwoods are native to North America, and is North Carolina's state flower. This tree was founded in England. The dogwood tree was also known to be a very large and strong tree, even bigger than the oak tree. There is a legend that the Flowering Dogwood is the tree that provided the wood used to build the cross that Jesus was crucified on. This however is not likely because it is not native to the Middle East.

How does it reproduce?

The Flowering Dogwood produces seeds which then birds and other animals disseminate the seeds, the seeds are also scattered by the act of gravity. The germination of the dogwood happens during the spring but some of the seeds don´t germinate until the second spring this is called epigeal germination.

How many tree types are there?

There are 17 different types of Flowering Dogwood trees. They all tend to favor each other as they are most commonly used for home landscape because they are smaller trees with beautiful flowers and simple leaves. Some ways to identify this tree is its bright showy flowers, onion shaped flower buds, and its alligator bark on mature trees.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

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