White Flowering Dogwood

Cornus florida
Common Name: Dogwood, Flowering Dogwood

The Flowering Dogwood is one of the most beautiful eastern North American understory trees with showy early spring flowers, red fruit, and scarlet autumn foliage. It is the State tree of Virginia.  Flowering dogwoods are extremely valuable for wildlife because the seed, fruit, flowers, twigs, bark, and leaves are utilized as food by various animals. The most distinguishing quality of dogwood is its high calcium and fat content (5). Fruits have been recorded as food eaten by at least 36 species of birds, including ruffed grouse, bob-white quail, and wild turkey. Chipmunks, foxes, skunks, rabbits, deer, beaver, black bears, and squirrels, in addition to other mammals, also eat dogwood fruits. Foliage and twigs are browsed by deer and rabbits. Flowering dogwood also is a favored ornamental species. It is highly regarded for landscaping and urban forestry purposes. Leaves are red or reddish purple in Autumn. 

 

Culture
Grow in full sun or combination of sun and shade; full sun promotes greatest flowering.  Prefers a cool, moist, acidic well-drained soil that contains organic matter. 

Use

Wildlife

Landscaping 

Has four-season appeal in flowers, fruits, fall, color, bark and branching character

Wood (see Additional Notes below)

 

Height
20-35 Feet

 

Spread
20-30 Feet

Color
Flowering dogwood has many crowded, small, yellowish perfect flowers, borne in terminal clusters in the spring before the leaves appear, and surrounded by four snow-white, petal-like bracts.

US Nativity
Native

 

More Info

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Characteristics & Attributes

Sun Light Requirement
    Full Sun
    Medium Sun / Average Shade
    Shade
Soil Moisture Requirements
    Dry
    Moderate
    Moist
   Wet
Growth Rate
    Fast
    Moderate
    Slow
Tolerance
    Alkaline Soil
    Acid Soil
    Dry Sites
    Wet Sites
    Wind
Uses
    Specimen / Ornamental
    Massing
    Border
    Hedge
    Barrier / Screen
    Naturalized Areas
    Riparian 
Special Uses
    Wildlife
    Wetland
    Ground Cover
    Erosion Control / Stabilization
    Fragrant
    Cut Flowers
     Medicinal 
Nature Attracting
    Butterfly
    Hummingbird
    Songbirds
    Game Birds
    Beneficial Insects / Bees


Wildlife Benefit
   Cover
    Nesting
    Food/Birds
    Food/Small Animals
    Butterfly Host
    Butterfly Nectar

Additional Notes

Virtually all the dogwood harvested was used in the manufacture of shuttles for textile weaving, but plastic shuttles have rapidly replaced this use. Small amounts of dogwood are used for other articles requiring a hard, close-textured, smooth wood capable of withstanding rough use. Examples are spools, small pulleys, malletheads, jewelers' blocks, and turnpins for shaping the ends of lead pipes. 

Native Americans chewed the bark  to release analgesic compounds to treat headaches, toothaches, and other pains. They also used the wood for wood carvings for decorative purposes and for making tools.

Fruit is poisonous to humans. 


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