Part 21

Use: Tool handles.

Habitat: Rich woods.

Range: Newfoundland across to southern Ontario and Minnesota, south to Missouri, Alabama, and Georgia.

Distinguishing Features: This is the only American dogwood with the leaves arranged in an alternate manner.

ROUGH-LEAVED DOGWOOD Cornus drummondii Meyer

Growth Form: Small tree to 30 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 inches; crown open and irregular.

Bark: Reddish-brown, scaly, shallowly furrowed.

Twigs: Slender, pale brown, purplish, or gray, smooth or slightly hairy; leaf scars opposite, crescent-shaped, slightly elevated, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Slender, flattened, pointed, finely hairy, up to ⅛ inch long.

Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades elliptic to narrowly ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering to rounded at the base, up to 4 inches long, up to half as wide, smooth along the edges, green and with short hairs on the upper surface, paler and hairy on lower surface; leafstalks up to ½ inch long, hairy.

Flowers: Several in round-topped clusters, appearing in May and June, each flower white, with 4 narrow petals.

Fruit: White, spherical berries up to ¼ inch in diameter, borne on red stalks.

Wood: Hard, heavy, close-grained, brown.

Use: Tool handles.

Habitat: Woods; edges of prairies.

Range: New York across to Minnesota, south to Nebraska and Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: This is the only dogwood in Illinois that is rough-hairy on the upper surface of the leaves.

FLOWERING DOGWOOD Cornus florida L.

Growth Form: Small to medium tree to 40 feet tall; trunk diameter rarely more than 2 feet; crown rounded.

Bark: Brown, divided into squarish plates.

Twigs: Slender, greenish to light brown, smooth, often curving upward at the tip; leaf scars opposite, crescent-shaped, elevated, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Of two kinds, the leaf buds slender, pointed, the flower buds flat and biscuit-shaped.

Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades elliptic to ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the base, up to 6 inches long, less than half as broad, the veins deeply impressed, the edges without teeth, green and smooth or sparsely hairy on the upper surface, pale and finely hairy or sometimes smooth on the lower surface; leafstalks up to ¾ inch long, smooth or finely hairy.

Flowers: Several crowded together in a yellow-green cluster, each cluster subtended by 4 large white petal-like bracts, appearing in late April and May.

Fruit: Red, ovoid berries up to ½ inch long, shiny, with mealy flesh and 1 or 2 seeds.

Wood: Hard, strong, heavy, close-grained, brown.

Uses: The wood is used in the making of tool handles, although the real value of the Flowering Dogwood is its ornamental potential.

Habitat: Woods.