Pagoda Dogwood
Encyclopedia
Pagoda 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
. It is rare in the Southern United States
.
tree
growing to 25 feet (rarely 30 feet) tall, with a trunk up to 6 inches diameter. The branches develop characteristic horizontal layers separated by gaps, with a flat-topped crown. Its leaves
are elliptic to ovate and grow to 2-5 inches long and 1-2 inches broad, arranged alternately on the stems, not in opposite pairs typical of the majority of Cornus species, the leaves are most often arranged in crowded clusters around the ends of the twigs and appear almost whorled. The topside of the leaves are smooth and green, while the undersides are hairy and a bluish color. Its bark
is colored gray to brown. It becomes ridged as it ages. C. alternifolia produces small cream colored flower
s with four small petals. The flowers are grouped into cymes, with the inflorescence
s 2-5 inches across. It bears fruit
similar to berries
with a blackish blue color. These fruits grow 3-4 inches across.
as have those of the Flowering Dogwood
, and the fruit is dark purple instead of red and of intensely disagreeable aromatic flavor.
C. alternifolia is susceptible to Golden Canker (Cryptodiaporthe corni
), particularly when drought stressed or heat stressed. Proper siting of the plant in partial to full shade, along with adequate mulch and water, will reduce incidence of this pathogen.
Dogwood
The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...
native to eastern 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...
, from Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
west to southern Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and south to northern Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. It is rare in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
Description
It is a small deciduousDeciduous
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...
growing to 25 feet (rarely 30 feet) tall, with a trunk up to 6 inches diameter. The branches develop characteristic horizontal layers separated by gaps, with a flat-topped crown. Its leaves
Leaf
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....
are elliptic to ovate and grow to 2-5 inches long and 1-2 inches broad, arranged alternately on the stems, not in opposite pairs typical of the majority of Cornus species, the leaves are most often arranged in crowded clusters around the ends of the twigs and appear almost whorled. The topside of the leaves are smooth and green, while the undersides are hairy and a bluish color. Its bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is colored gray to brown. It becomes ridged as it ages. C. alternifolia produces small cream colored 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 with four small petals. The flowers are grouped into cymes, with the inflorescence
Inflorescence
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...
s 2-5 inches across. It bears 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,...
similar to berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
with a blackish blue color. These fruits grow 3-4 inches across.
- Bark: Dark reddish brown, with shallow ridges. Branchlets at first pale reddish green, later dark green.
- Wood: Reddish brown, sapwood pale; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.6696; weight of cu. ft., 41-73 lbs.
- Winter buds: Light chestnut brown, acute. Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and become half an inch long before they fall.
- Leaves: Alternate, rarely opposite, often clustered at the ends of the branch, simple, three to five inches long, two to three wide, oval or ovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at base; margin is wavy toothed, slightly reflexed, apex acuminate. They come out of the bud involute, reddish green above, coated with silvery white tomentum beneath, when full grown are bright green above, pale, downy, almost white beneath. Feather-veined, midrib broad, yellowish, prominent beneath, with about six pairs of primary veins. In autumn they turn yellow, or yellow and scarlet. Petioles slender, grooved, hairy, with clasping bases.
- Flowers: April, May. Perfect, cream color, borne in many-flowered, broad, open cymes, at the end of short lateral branches.
- Calyx: The cup-shaped flowers have four petals that are valvate in bud, unwrapping when in bloom with cream colored, oblong shaped petals with rounded ends. The petals are inserted on disk and the stamens are inserted too and arranged alternately to the petals, being four in number also. The stamens are exserted with filaments long and slender. Anthers oblong, introrse, versatile, two-celled; cells opening longitudinally.
- Pistil: Ovary inferior, two-celled; style columnar; stigma capitate.
- Fruit: Drupe, globular, blue-black, one-third inch across, tipped with remnant of style which rises from a slight depression; nut obovoid, many-grooved. October.
Habitat
C. alternifolia is found under open deciduous trees, as well as along the margins of forests and swamps. These trees prefer moist, well drained soil.Ornamental use
The tree is regarded as attractive because of its wide spreading shelving branches and flat-topped head, and is often used in ornamental plantings. The flower clusters have no great white involucreInvolucre
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...
as have those of 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...
, and the fruit is dark purple instead of red and of intensely disagreeable aromatic flavor.
C. alternifolia is susceptible to Golden Canker (Cryptodiaporthe corni
Cryptodiaporthe
Cryptodiaporthe is a genus of fungi in the family Gnomoniaceae. The genus contains 24 species.- External links :* at Index Fungorum...
), particularly when drought stressed or heat stressed. Proper siting of the plant in partial to full shade, along with adequate mulch and water, will reduce incidence of this pathogen.