American Dogwood Tree Facts

Unfussy in its care requirements the dogwood readily thrives in the home landscape and grows quickly.

American dogwood tree facts. These species vary wildly from shrubs to deciduous temperate trees and evergreens. The main attraction is the appearance of the showy white or pink flowers actually bracts that herald the arrival of spring. American dogwoods have oppositely arranged oval shaped leaves which are 3 6 inches long and 2 3 inches wide. The fruits are known as dogberries or houndberries.

Leaves are simple opposite ovate measuring 6 13 cm long and 4 6 cm broad with entire margins. There are over 50 species within the cornus or dogwood genus. Dogwoods are native to north america and are also native to asia and europe. It turns a rich red brown in fall.

American dogwood is a small deciduous tree which grows to the height of 10 meters and often wider than it is tall when mature having trunk diameter upto 30 cm. It is quite common in north america. It is an ornamental tree and is also known as hound s tree. The dogwood tree belongs to the family cornaceae and its scientific name is cornus florida.

Additional colors can be created by mixing dogwood root with other plants that provide dyes. An old tree will stand about 5 meters tall. George washington planted them at mount vernon and thomas jefferson at monticello. American dogwoods plant s bark is deeply ridged rough broken and resembles crocodile skin.

There are 30 to 50 species of dogwood that are native to temperate areas of north america and eurasia. Dogwood is a type of flowering tree that belongs to the family cornaceae. The dogwood one of the most popular trees in the country offers an unmatched four season display of beauty. Cornus florida the flowering dogwood is a species of flowering tree in the family cornaceae native to eastern north america and northern mexico.

As long as you offer the tree plenty of water and sunshine like most plants the dogwood will do just fine. One of the most interesting dogwood tree facts is that their roots are used to make dyes. The dogwood name is derived from dagwood which refers to the trees earliest use as material for making daggers and swords. An endemic population once spanned from southernmost coastal maine south to northern florida and west to the mississippi river.

America s founding fathers were big dogwood fans. Facts about american dogwood american dogwoods are the hard decidous flowering plants growing to 15 to 20 feet tall. Dogwood flowers have four parts. Dogwood can be found in the evergreen forests or on the edges of deciduous forests.

In many species the flowers are borne separately in open but often dense clusters while in various other species such as the flowering dogwood the flowers themselves are tightly clustered lacking showy petals but surrounded by four to six large typically white petal like bracts. There are several species of dogwood the roots of which provide different color dyes.