SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cornus florida

COMMON NAME: flowering dogwood

FLOWERS: Yellow with 4 very showy white bracts before the leaves in March-April. Bracts form a cross. Flower buds are set in September for spring flowering.

FRUIT: Attractive red drupes in the fall.

LEAVES: Opposite, with arcuate venation. Up to 4" in length. Stipule scar forms a ring around the twig at each node. Excellent red fall color.

GROWTH HABIT: Grows 20' to 30' tall and wide with sympodial branching pattern.

OTHER: Most popular small flowering tree in the trade. A native understory tree all over the south. Grows best in part shade with a moist, but well drained soil. Trunk will get a bark that looks like an alligators back. Can get spot anthracnose on the bracts during wet springs. There are several cultivars with new ones being released all the time. Cultivars come with pink to red bracts and variegated foliage. Dogwood branches used to be used to sweep yards before turf became popular in the middle of this century. Leaves high in calcium and therefore biodegrade rapidly once they hit the ground. Prefers pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Dogwood has maximum photosynthesis in 70% shade. Annual precipitation in the range of dogwood is between 30" to 80" per yearand temperatures range from -30 to 115 degrees F.

DISEASES AND INSECTS: Spot antracnose, discula anthracnose, septoria leaf spot, root rot, trunk cankers, trunk borers, twig borers.

CULTIVARS: 'Cloud 9', 'Barton's White', 'Welch's Bay Beauty', 'Springtime', 'Cherokee Princess', 'Cherokee Daybreak' (trade mark name for the cultivar 'Daybreak').