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Cornus florida Observations
(flowering dogwood)
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Introduction to the NPN Native Species Observation Program
Flowering dogwood is one of America’s most popular ornamental trees. Known to most people simply as dogwood, it has other common names, including boxwood and cornel. The species name florida is Latin for flowering, but the showy petal-like bracts are not in fact flowers. The bright red fruit of this fast-growing short-lived tree are poisonous to humans but provide a great variety of wildlife with food. 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. The bracts form “flowers” 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) across and provide a spectacular display in the springtime. Occasionally, trees with salmon-colored or light-pink bracts are found in nature.
Source: Silvics of North America, Volume 2: Hardwoods.
You should record when five well-defined phenological events occur for dogwood:
- Beginning of flowering, first flowers open (BF) is the date when in at least three places on the plant the first flowers have opened completely
(Photo by Samuel B. Jones, Jr., and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native Plant Information Network Image Gallery).
- Sprouting of leaves (SL) is the date when the buds begin to burst open in at least three places on the plant under observation. The first green is visible on the young spring shoots and the first scales may fall off the buds.
- Beginning of the unfolding of leaves, first leaf surfaces visible (UL) is the date when in at least three places on the plant under observation first leaves have pushed themselves completely out of the bud or leaf sheath. The leaves have unfolded completely, so that the leaf stalk or leaf base is visible (sometimes only recognizable by bending back the young leaf). At this point, the individual leaf has taken its ultimate form, but has not yet reached its final size.
- Fruit ripe (FR) is the date when in at least three places on the plant under observation, the fruit shows the coloring characteristics of the plant variety (i.e., is ripe), and can be easily removed (i.e., is ready to fall from the plant)
(Photo by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native Plant Information Network Image Gallery).
- Coloring of leaves (CL) is the date when approximately 50% of the leaves (including those that have fallen to the ground) have taken on the colors of autumn.
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Please record average dates for each event among multiple plants of the same species. Report by email if any plant appears in poor health or event dates for same-species plants vary by more than a few days.
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