Common Name: Eastern Dogwood or Flowering Dogwood
Scientific Name: Cornus florida
Location: Kirk Memorial
Identifying Features
Flowering dogwood is the state tree of Missouri. In winter, conspicuous round flower buds can be seen at the twig tips. In early spring, the tiny flowers are surrounded by large, white leaves that resemble petals. Bright red fruits appear in the fall. The leaves are alternate, acutely veined, with a smooth to wavy margin. The bark is smooth when young. As the tree ages, the bark becomes very scaly to finely blocky.
Distribution/Geography
Flowering dogwood is native to the northeastern and southeastern United States. It occurs from Maine, south to Florida and west to eastern Texas, Missouri, Illinois, and southern Michigan.
Uses
Flowering dogwood’s hard, closed grained wood is used in golf clubs for tool handles, mallets, and heads. The bark of the roots can also be used to create a red dye. The trunk’s powdered bard was commonly used in toothpaste and black ink, and as an aspirin-like component. However, the most extensive use of flowering dogwood is as an ornamental landscape.
History
Long before the Americans got to this continent, the Eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) was here, blooming every spring at woodland edges all over the eastern half of the United States. Descendants of those native dogwoods still put on a springtime show in yards, parks and even in the forests.
Fun Fact
Malaria was treated by the Native American using the roots and barks of the dogwood tree.