(Sautee)- One of the most beloved and treasured trees of the Southern Appalachian forest is the Flowering Dogwood. Its beautiful blossoms opening around Eastertide mark the real beginning of the spring season.
Dogwood is a member of the Cornaceae or Dogwood Family. This family includes some 120 species of shrubs and trees in North America. Among these species are those with both evergreen and deciduous leaves, and both opposite and alternate leaf arrangements. Flowers may be bisexual, male or female with calyxes of 4 or 5 sepals.
A relatively small tree, it rarely exceeds 40 feet in height and the average trunk diameter is about 8 inches at maturity. The bark of mature trees is characteristically gray and “broken” or furrowed having the appearance of alligator hide.
The Dogwood’s bloom is very showy and prominent. It is important to note that the four white “petals” are not petals at all, but are actually bracts which surround the base of the flower head, prominently notched on the apex and arranged cruciformly around the flower head, another key characteristic.
The actual Dogwood flowers themselves are quite small, yellow-to-yellow-green in color and are packed tightly into a larger flower head. From the records kept by the writer, it is noted that buds can begin to open as early as March 13th or as late as April 5th, reaching full-bloom by April 16th as an average date. Blooms generally fade and fall off the tree by the first week of May. The average length of the flowering season is 30 days.
The green elliptical arcuate leaves measure 3 to 6 inches. In autumn , the color changes gradually to a dark ruby-red or almost-purple color as early as August 20th and as late as September 18th. The leaves reach their peak color between October 16th and October 24th.
