While most of the wild trees have white bracts, some selected cultivars of this tree also have pink bracts, some even almost a true red. When in the wild they can typically be found at the forest edge and frequently on dry ridges. The flower-head is surrounded by four conspicuous large white, pink or red bracts (not petals), each bract 3 cm (1.2 in) long and 2.5 cm (0.98 in) broad, rounded, and often with a distinct notch at the apex. Around 20 flowers are produced in a dense, rounded, umbel-shaped inflorescence, or flower-head, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) in diameter. The flowers are individually small, inconspicuous, and a hermaphrodite, with four, greenish-yellow petals (not bracts) 4 mm (0.16 in) long. Hot, humid summer weather is necessary for new growth to harden off in the fall. At the northern end of its range, heights of 30–33 feet are more typical. The leaves are opposite, simple, ovate, 6–13 cm (2.4–5.1 in) long and 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) broad, with an apparently entire margin (actually very finely toothed, under a lens) they turn a rich red-brown in fall.įlowering dogwood attains its greatest size and growth potential in the Upper South, sometimes up to 40 feet in height. A 10-year-old tree will stand about 5 m (16 ft) tall. Northeastern Mexico ( Nuevo León, Veracruz).įlowering dogwood is a small deciduous tree growing to 10 m (33 ft) high, often wider than it is tall when mature, with a trunk diameter of up to 30 cm (1 ft). florida include American dogwood, Florida dogwood, Indian arrowwood, Cornelian tree, white cornel, white dogwood, false box, and false boxwood.Ĭornus florida subsp. The flowering dogwood is usually included in the dogwood genus Cornus as Cornus florida L., although it is sometimes treated in a separate genus as Benthamidia florida (L.) Spach.

Cherokee brave dogwood but with white