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Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) state tree of Missouri & Virginia

The white “flowers” of flowering dogwood are actually four large white bracts encircling a cluster of tiny yellowish true flowers. The bracts start out small and green, and gradually enlarge and turn white during the mid-spring blooming season. In fall, clusters of red berries are formed, and the bright red fall leaf color can be radiant. Flowering dogwood is a common woodland tree through the eastern United States. It grows in association with beech, hickory, maple, and oak. It occupies a mid-level height in the forest, never growing as tall as its larger tree associates. It can be inconspicuous in the forest when not in bloom. Flowering dogwood is very popular in horticulture, and many new forms have been developed, including plants with pink or red bracts. A disease of the leaves and inner bark, called anthracnose, is impacting our native dogwoods. Researchers have bred plants which are resistant to the disease by hybridizing our native flowering dogwood with the closely related kousa dogwood from Asia.

Look for: Small tree rarely exceeding 30 feet tall; you really can tell a dogwood by its bark – look for rough, square to hexagonal patterns like cracked mud; opposite leaves, oval shaped, with an extended point at the tip, impressed parallel veins; small yellowish-green flowers in a cluster surrounded by four large white bracts; berries hard, oval, and bright red.