Dogwood
Encyclopedia
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
s in the family Cornaceae
Cornaceae
Cornaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. It contains approximately 110 species, mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen. Members of this family usually have opposite or alternate simple leaves, four- or five-parted flowers clustered in...
, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s or shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
. Several species have small heads of inconspicuous flowers surrounded by an involucre
Involucre
Involucre may refer to* involucral bract, a bract, bract pair, or whorl of bracts surrounding a flower or inflorescence* a term sometimes misused for the cupule surrounding developing nuts in the Fagaceae...
of large, typically white petal-like bracts, while others have more open clusters of petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
-bearing flowers. The various species of dogwood are native throughout much of temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
and boreal
Boreal
Boreal may refer to*Boreal ecosystem**Boreal climate, the climate found in a region of boreal forests, and designated Dfc, Dwc or Dsc in the Köppen climate classification scheme.*boreal forest*Boreal forest of Canada*Boreal Bluet...
Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the southeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
particularly rich in native species.
The dogwoods include the common dogwood
Common Dogwood
The Common Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, occurring north to southern England and southern Scandinavia, and east to the Caspian Sea. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant....
(Cornus sanguinea) of Eurasia, the widely cultivated flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) of eastern North America, the Pacific dogwood
Pacific Dogwood
The Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii , is a species of dogwood native to western North America from lowlands of southern British Columbia to mountains of southern California. An inland population occurs in central Idaho. Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii...
(Cornus nuttallii) of western North America, the Kousa Dogwood
Kousa Dogwood
The Kousa Dogwood is a small deciduous tree 8–12 m tall, native to eastern Asia. Like most dogwoods, it has opposite, simple leaves, which are 4–10 cm long. The tree is extremely showy when in bloom, but what appear to be four petaled white flowers are actually bracts spread open below the...
(Cornus kousa) of eastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and two low-growing boreal species, the Canadian
Cornus canadensis
Cornus canadensis is a herbaceous member of the Cornaceae family...
and Eurasian
Cornus suecica
Cornus suecica is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cornus , native to cool temperate and subarctic regions of Europe and Asia, and also locally in extreme northeastern and northwestern North America.These plants are herbaceous perennials growing to 5–15 cm tall, with few pairs of...
dwarf cornels (or bunchberries), Cornus canadensis and Cornus suecica, respectively.
Depending on botanical interpretation, the dogwoods are variously divided into one to nine genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
or subgenera
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...
; a broadly inclusive genus Cornus is accepted here, with four subgenera.
Common name 'Dogwood'
The name "dog-tree" entered the English vocabulary by 1548, and had been further transformed to "dogwood" by 1614. Once the name dogwood was affixed to this kind of tree, it soon acquired a secondary name as the Hound's Tree, while the fruits came to be known as dogberries or houndberries (the latter a name also for the berries of black nightshadeBlack nightshade
Black nightshade may refer to:* Solanum americanum of much of North America* Solanum nigrum of Europe* Solanum ptychanthum of the Caribbean region...
, alluding to Hecate's
Hecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
hounds). Another theory advances the view that "dogwood" was derived from the Old English dagwood, from the use of the slender stems of its very hard wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
for making 'dags' (daggers, skewers, and arrows).
Another, earlier name of the dogwood in English is the whipple-tree. Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
uses "whippletree" in The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...
("The Knight's Tale
The Knight's Tale
"The Knight's Tale" is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The story introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas. The story is written in iambic pentameter end-rhymed couplets.-Story:...
", verse 2065) to refer to the dogwood. A whippletree is an element of the traction of a horse-drawn cart
Cart
A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people...
, linking the drawpole of the cart to the harnesses of the horses in file; these items still bear the name of the tree from which they are commonly carved.
Characteristics
Dogwoods have simple, untoothed leavesLeaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
with the veins curving distinctively as they approach the leaf margins. Most dogwood species have opposite leaves, while a few, such as Cornus alternifolia and C. controversa, have their leaves alternate. Dogwood flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s have four parts. In many species, the flowers are borne separately in open (but often dense) clusters, while in various other species (such as the flowering dogwood
Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario, Illinois, and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with a disjunct population in Nuevo León and Veracruz in eastern Mexico.-Classification:The flowering...
), the flowers themselves are tightly clustered, lacking showy petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s, but surrounded by four to six large, typically white petal-like bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s.
The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s of all dogwood species are drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
s with one or two seeds, often brightly colorful. The drupes of several species in the subgenera Cornus and Benthamidia are edible, though without much flavor. However, those of species in subgenus Swida are mildly toxic to people
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
, though readily eaten by bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s.
Dogwoods are used as food plants by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some species of butterflies and moths
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, including the Emperor moth, the Engrailed
Engrailed
The Engrailed and Small Engrailed are moths of the family Geometridae. They are distributed across most of Europe. There is an on-going debate as to whether they make up one species, or whether E. crepuscularia actually refers only to the Small Engrailed, with the Engrailed proper being separable...
, the small angle shades
Small Angle Shades
The small angle shades is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.As the common name suggests, this species is closely related to the angle shades , and is considerably smaller , but does not especially resemble that species...
, and the following case-bearers of the genus Coleophora
Coleophora
Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions...
: C. ahenella, C. salicivorella (recorded on Cornus canadensis), C. albiantennaella, C. cornella and C. cornivorella, with the latter three all feeding exclusively on Cornus.
Uses
Dogwoods are widely planted horticulturally, and the dense wood of the larger-stemmed species is valued for certain specialized purposes.Horticulture
Various species of Cornus, particularly the flowering dogwoodFlowering Dogwood
Cornus florida is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario, Illinois, and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with a disjunct population in Nuevo León and Veracruz in eastern Mexico.-Classification:The flowering...
(Cornus florida), are ubiquitous in American garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s and landscaping
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
; horticulturist
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
Donald Wyman
Donald Wyman
Donald Wyman was an American horticulturist, the head of horticulture at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum , and the author of many books, including Wyman's Garden Encyclopedia...
stated "There is a dogwood for almost every part of the U.S. except the hottest and dryest areas". However, in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the lack of sharp winters and hot summers makes Cornus florida very shy of flowering.
Many species in subgenus Swida are stolon
Stolon
In biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...
iferous shrubs that grow naturally in wet habitats and along waterways. Several of these are used along highways and in naturalizing landscape plantings, especially those species with bright red or bright yellow stems, particularly conspicuous in winter, such as Cornus stolonifera.
Most of the species in subgenus Benthamidia, including the flowering dogwood, are small trees useful as ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s. When flowering, they are of rare elegance and beauty, comparable to Carolina silverbell, Canadian serviceberry, and the Eastern redbud
Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis L. is a large shrub or small tree native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida, United States....
for their ornamental qualities.
Wood
Dense and fine-grained, dogwood timber is highly prized for making loom shuttles, tool handles and other small items that require a very hard and strong wood. Though it is tough for woodworking, some artisans favor dogwood for small projects such as walking canes, longbowLongbow
A longbow is a type of bow that is tall ; this will allow its user a fairly long draw, at least to the jaw....
s, mountain dulcimers and fine inlay
Inlay
Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of contrasting, often coloured materials into depressions in a base object to form patterns or pictures that normally are flush with the matrix. In a wood matrix, inlays commonly use wood veneers, but other materials like shells, mother-of-pearl,...
s. Dogwood wood is an excellent substitute for persimmon
Persimmon
A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family . The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant...
wood in the heads of certain golf clubs
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(“woods”).
Larger items have also been occasionally made of dogwood, such as the screw-in basket-style wine or fruit presses. The first kinds of laminate
Laminate
A laminate is a material that can be constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which in common parlance refers to the placing of something between layers of plastic and gluing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an...
d tennis rackets were also made from this wood, cut into thin strips.
Dogwood twigs
Teeth cleaning twig
A Teeth cleaning twig, twig toothbrush, bush toothbrush, tooth twig, chew stick, or chewing stick is a tool made from a twig from a tree with antimicrobial properties.-Twigs used:...
were used by pioneers to brush their teeth. They would peel off the bark, bite the twig and then scrub their teeth.
Classification
Dogwoods are grossly distinguished by the relative conspicuousness of their flowerFlower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s and bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s (involucres). The following classification recognizes a single, inclusive genus Cornus, with four subgenera. Synonyms are given to provide equivalent names if these subgenera are recognized instead as the separate genera Benthamidia, Chamaepericlymenum, and Swida, in addition to a more narrowly taken Cornus, and also for a five-genus classification, in which Dendrobenthamidia is distinguished from a more narrowly taken Benthamidia. Note that the four species in the subgenus Cornus below retain the same names regardless of whether these additional genera are separately recognized. In a few cases, when a species listed here is sometimes separated instead into two species, that additional name is also listed, with the notation "here including ...".
Geographical ranges as native plants are given below. In addition, cultivated species occasionally persist or spread from plantings beyond their native ranges, but are rarely if ever locally invasive
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
.
Bracts showy but flowers inconspicuous
Flower clusters inconspicuous, usually greenish, but surrounded by large, showy petal-like bractBract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s; fruit usually red:
- Subgenus Benthamidia (syn. subgenus Dendrobenthamia, subgenus Cynoxylon). Flowering dogwoods; five species of trees, divisible into two subgroups (Benthamidia, with individual drupes, and Dendrobenthamia, with the drupes coalesced into a compound fruit).
- Cornus capitataCornus capitataCornus capitata is a species of dogwood known by the common names Bentham's cornel, Himalayan flowering dogwood, and evergreen dogwood. It is native to the low-elevation woodlands of the Himalayas in China, India, and surrounding nations and it is naturalized in parts of Australia and New Zealand....
(Benthamidia capitata, Dendrobenthamia capitata; Himalayan Flowering Dogwood). Himalaya. - Cornus florida (Benthamidia florida; Flowering DogwoodFlowering DogwoodCornus florida is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario, Illinois, and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with a disjunct population in Nuevo León and Veracruz in eastern Mexico.-Classification:The flowering...
). U.S. east of the Great Plains, north to southern Ontario. - Cornus hongkongensis (Benthamidia hongkongensis, Dendrobenthamia hongkongensis; Hongkong Dogwood). Southern China, LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. - Cornus kousa (Benthamidia kousa, Dendrobenthamia kousa; Kousa DogwoodKousa DogwoodThe Kousa Dogwood is a small deciduous tree 8–12 m tall, native to eastern Asia. Like most dogwoods, it has opposite, simple leaves, which are 4–10 cm long. The tree is extremely showy when in bloom, but what appear to be four petaled white flowers are actually bracts spread open below the...
). Japan and (as subsp. chinensis) central and northern China. - Cornus nuttallii (Benthamidia nuttallii; Pacific DogwoodPacific DogwoodThe Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii , is a species of dogwood native to western North America from lowlands of southern British Columbia to mountains of southern California. An inland population occurs in central Idaho. Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii...
). Western North America, from British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. - Cornus × rutgersensis (Hybrid: C. florida × C. kousa). Horticulturally developed.
- Cornus capitata
- Subgenus Chamaepericlymenum. Bunchberries or Dwarf cornels; two species of creeping subshrubSubshrubA subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...
s growing from woody stolonStolonIn biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...
s.- Cornus canadensisCornus canadensisCornus canadensis is a herbaceous member of the Cornaceae family...
(Chamaepericlymenum canadense; Canadian Dwarf Cornel or Bunchberry) Northern North America, southward in the AppalachianAppalachian MountainsThe Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
and RockyRocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
Mountains. - Cornus suecicaCornus suecicaCornus suecica is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cornus , native to cool temperate and subarctic regions of Europe and Asia, and also locally in extreme northeastern and northwestern North America.These plants are herbaceous perennials growing to 5–15 cm tall, with few pairs of...
(Chamaepericlymenum suecicum; Eurasian Dwarf Cornel or Bunchberry). Northern Eurasia, locally in extreme northeast and northwest North America. - Cornus × unalaschkensis (Hybrid: C. canadensis × C. suecica). Aleutian Islands (AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
), GreenlandGreenlandGreenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, and LabradorLabradorLabrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
and Newfoundland in Canada.
- Cornus canadensis
Flowers semi-showy, lacking large bracts
Flower clusters (cymeCyme
Cyme or CYME may refer to:*Any of several ancient Greek cities :** Cyme ** Cyme ** Cyme...
s) semi-showy, usually white or yellow, with surrounding bracts (involucre) either small and deciduous, or lacking altogether; fruit red, blue, or white:
- Subgenus Cornus. Cornels; four species of shrubs or small trees; flower clusters with deciduous bracts (involucre).
- Cornus chinensis (Chinese Cornel). ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. - Cornus mas (European CornelEuropean CornelThe European Cornel is a species of dogwood native to southern Europe and southwest Asia. In North America, the plant is known by the common name of Cornelian Cherry....
or Cornelian-cherry). MediterraneanMediterranean BasinIn biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
. - Cornus officinalisCornus officinalisCornus officinalis is a species of dogwood known also as Japanese cornel or Japanese cornelian cherry or Cornelian cherries.-Etymology:...
(Japanese CornelCornus officinalisCornus officinalis is a species of dogwood known also as Japanese cornel or Japanese cornelian cherry or Cornelian cherries.-Etymology:...
). China, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, KoreaKoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. - Cornus sessilisCornus sessilisCornus sessilis is a species of dogwood known by the common names blackfruit cornel or blackfruit dogwood and miner's dogwood. This is a shrub or small tree which is endemic to northern California, where it grows along streambanks in the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the coastal mountain ranges. It...
(Blackfruit CornelCornus sessilisCornus sessilis is a species of dogwood known by the common names blackfruit cornel or blackfruit dogwood and miner's dogwood. This is a shrub or small tree which is endemic to northern California, where it grows along streambanks in the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the coastal mountain ranges. It...
). CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
- Cornus chinensis (Chinese Cornel). China
- Subgenus Swida. Dogwoods; about 20-30 species of shrubs; flower clusters without an involucre.
- Cornus albaCornus albaCornus alba, the Siberian or Red-Barked Dogwood, is a large suckering shrub that can be grown as a small tree. It is from the family Cornaceae. As a popular ornamental used in landscaping it notable features include the red stems in fall through late winter, the brightest winter bark of any...
(Swida alba; Siberian Dogwood). SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and northern China. - Cornus alternifolia (Swida alternifolia; Pagoda DogwoodPagoda DogwoodPagoda dogwood , also known as alternate-leaved Dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to southern Manitoba and Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Mississippi...
or Alternate-leaf Dogwood). Eastern U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and southeastern CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. - Cornus amomumCornus amomumCornus amomum is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from Ontario and Quebec south to Arkansas and Georgia. Also found in other parts of North America....
(Swida amomum; Silky Dogwood). Eastern U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
east of the Great Plains except for the Deep SouthDeep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
. - Cornus asperifolia (Swida asperifolia; Toughleaf Dogwood). Southeastern U.S.
- Cornus austrosinensis (Swida austrosinensis; South China Dogwood). East Asia.
- Cornus bretschneideri (Swida bretschneideri; Bretschneider's Dogwood). Northern China.
- Cornus controversa (Swida controversa; Table Dogwood). East Asia.
- Cornus coreana (Swida coreana; Korean DogwoodKorean DogwoodThe Korean Dogwood is a deciduous shrub or small tree 8–16 m tall, native to eastern Asia in Korea and adjacent northeastern China. It has opposite, simple leaves, 5–12 cm long....
). Northeast Asia. - Cornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondii, commonly known as the Roughleaf Dogwood, is a small deciduous tree that is native primarily to the Great Plains and Midwestern reigons of the United States. It is also found around the Mississippi River. It is uncommon in the wild, and is mostly found around forest borders...
(Here including C. priceae; Swida drummondii; Roughleaf Dogwood). U.S. between the AppalachiaAppalachian MountainsThe Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
and the Great PlainsGreat PlainsThe Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
, and southern OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada. - Cornus foemina (Here including C. stricta; Swida foemina; Stiff Dogwood) Southeastern and southern United States.
- Cornus glabrataCornus glabrataCornus glabrata is a species of dogwood native to California and Oregon and known by the common names brown dogwood, smooth dogwood, and western cornel. This is a large shrub or thicket-forming bush with bright green leaves which turn red in fall. It bears plentiful clusters of fuzzy white flowers...
(Swida glabrata; Brown Dogwood or Smooth Dogwood). Western North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. - Cornus hemsleyi (Swida hemsleyi; Hemsley's Dogwood). Southwest China.
- Cornus koehneana (Swida koehneana; Koehne's Dogwood). Southwest China.
- Cornus macrophylla (Swida macrophylla; Large-leafed Dogwood). East Asia.
- Cornus obliqua (Swida obliqua; Pale Dogwood). Northeastern and central U.S., and southeastern Canada.
- Cornus paucinervis (Swida paucinervis). China.
- Cornus racemosa (Swida racemosa; Northern Swamp DogwoodNorthern Swamp DogwoodCornus racemosa is a shrubby plant species growing to 5 m tall. Its native from southeastern Canada and northeastern United States. It is a member of the dogwood genus Cornus and the family Cornaceae.Plants produce many stems and sucker much with older stems having distinctively gray colored...
or Gray Dogwood). Northeastern and central U.S., and extreme southeastern Canada. - Cornus rugosa (Swida rugosa; Round-leaf Dogwood). Northeastern and north-central U.S., and southeastern Canada.
- Cornus sanguinea (Swida sanguinea; Common DogwoodCommon DogwoodThe Common Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, occurring north to southern England and southern Scandinavia, and east to the Caspian Sea. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant....
). Europe. - Cornus sericea (Here including C. stolonifera; Swida sericea; Red Osier DogwoodRed Osier DogwoodThe Red Osier Dogwood is a species of dogwood native throughout northern and western North America from Alaska east to Newfoundland, south to Durango and Nuevo León in the west, and Illinois and Virginia in the east...
).Northern and western North America, except ArcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
regions. - Cornus stricta (Swida stricta; Southern Swamp Dogwood). Southeastern U.S.
- Cornus walteri (Swida walteri; Walter's Dogwood). Central China.
- Cornus wilsoniana (Swida wilsoniana; Wilson's Dogwood). Central China.
- Cornus alba
Cultural references
The inflorescenceInflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
("flower") of the Pacific dogwood
Pacific Dogwood
The Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii , is a species of dogwood native to western North America from lowlands of southern British Columbia to mountains of southern California. An inland population occurs in central Idaho. Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii...
(Cornus nuttallii) is the official flower of the province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The flowering dogwood
Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario, Illinois, and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with a disjunct population in Nuevo León and Veracruz in eastern Mexico.-Classification:The flowering...
(Cornus florida) and its inflorescence are the state tree and the state flower respectively for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. It is also the state tree of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and the state flower of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
Many Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s consider the flowering dogwood's showy cross-like inflorescences ("flowers") to be religious symbols, due to their four white petal-like bracts bearing red dots on their tips; these trees are often in flower during the springtime Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
season in the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
. Christian tradition claims the dogwood as the tree used to make the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and further, that dogwoods grew taller and broader until the 1st Century AD, making them suitable for use as crosses. In response to Jesus's death on one, God permanently stunted the growth of the dogwood species to prevent them ever again being used for the same purpose. Today, very few dogwood specimens would provide sufficient wood to manufacture a cross by the primitive means of the 1st Century AD.
In the Victorian Era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, flowers or sprigs of dogwoods were presented to unmarried women by male suitors to signify affection. The returning of the flower conveyed indifference on the part of the woman; however, if she kept it, it became a sign of mutual interest.
The term "dogwood winter", in colloquial
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
use in the American Southeast, is sometimes used to describe a cold snap
Cold snap
Cold snap is used in two ways to describe climate:*in meteorology, a period of intensely cold and dry weather, often occurring during an Ice Age...
in spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
, presumably because farmers believed it was not safe to plant their crops until after the dogwoods blossomed.