American dogwood, the state flower of Virginia

How to recognize it

The flowering dogwood is a small understory tree, often shrubby near the northern edge of its range, with low, spreading, layered branches that form a rounded to flat-topped crown. What looks like one large flower is really a tight cluster of tiny yellowish true flowers ringed by four showy, petal-like bracts, normally white and occasionally pink, together about 2 to 4 inches across. It blooms in spring before the leaves fully open.

The leaves are opposite and oval, 3 to 5 inches long, with veins that arc toward the tip, and the branches are opposite too, giving the tree a tiered look. In September and October it bears clusters of glossy red, oval fruits, and in winter its flower buds at the twig tips are shaped like cloves.

Where it grows

The flowering dogwood is native to the eastern United States, from southern Maine and Ontario south to northern Florida and west to eastern Texas and Missouri. It grows throughout Virginia in forest understories, from the mountains to the Coastal Plain.

Where to see it

Look for the white bracts in Virginia’s woodlands, parks and yards in spring. Nurseries also sell pink- and red-bracted forms, weeping forms and more than 20 named varieties.

Food for wildlife

The red fruits are poisonous to people, but at least 36 species of birds and many other animals eat them.

A disease in the mountains

Dogwood anthracnose, a fungal disease, was first found in Virginia in 1988. In 1991 the General Assembly asked the Department of Forestry, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Virginia Tech to study it, and a 1992 report found that the disease hit dogwoods hardest in the state’s mountain counties, especially at high elevations, and was much less severe in Piedmont and Coastal Plain forests.

Flower and tree

Virginia chose the flowering dogwood as its floral emblem in 1918, its first state emblem after the seal and flag. In 1956 the General Assembly named the same tree the state tree, so it serves as both.