Cornus florida
Common name: Flowering Dogwood
| Cornus florida | |
|---|---|
| |
| Photo by the Atlas of Florida Plants Database | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida - Dicots |
| Order: | Cornales |
| Family: | Cornaceae |
| Genus: | Cornus |
| Species: | C. florida |
| Binomial name | |
| Cornus florida L. | |
| |
| Natural range of Cornus florida from USDA NRCS Plants Database. | |
Contents
Taxonomic Notes
Synonyms: Cynoxylon floridum (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ex B.D. Jackson; Benthamidia florida (Linnaeus) Spach
Varieties: none
Description
C. florida is a perennial shrub/tree of the Cornaceae family native to North America and Canada. [1] It is a smaller and bushier tree that reaches heights of 40 feet with a diameter between 12 and 18 inches.[2] Bark is grayish brown, reddish brown, or black, rough, broken into square blocks; leaves deciduous, opposite, simple, nearly hairless and smooth to touch on upper surface, finely hairy on bottom surface; inflorescence is many flowers crowded into a head, subtended by 4 large and showy white-pink petal-like bracts; fruit is an elliptical drupe, 1-2 seeded, bright red or yellowish at maturity, usually several are crowded together. [3]
Distribution
C. florida is native to the eastern continental United States west to Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, as well as the Ontario region of Canada.[1] It is also native in montane northeast Mexico, including Veracruz and Nuevo Leon.[4]
Ecology
Habitat
C. florida can be found in a range of habitats from dry to moist forests to wetlands.[4] It well in understories in the communities that it is found.[5]C. florida also proliferates in disturbed areas and rich woods.[6] It is listed as a facultative upland species, where it mostly occurs in non-wetlands, but can still occur in wetlands.[1] The species grows best on rich and well-drained soils that are usually on middle and lower slopes.[2]
Phenology
C. florida has been observed flowering from February to April, October, and November. [7] C. florida is a bird-dispersed species. [8]
Seed dispersal
This species is thought to be dispersed by consumption by vertebrates. [9]
Fire ecology
C. florida is not fire resistant, but has a medium fire tolerance. [1]
Use by animals
C. florida consists of approximately 5-10% of the diet for large and small mammals, water birds, and terrestrial birds.[10] It is a food source during the winter and fall for the fox squirrel and grey squirrel, cedar waxwing, bobwhite quail, flicker, cardinal, robin, mockingbird, woodpecker, and wild turkey. The twigs and the leaves are eaten by white-tailed deer, and it is not an important plant for nesting.[2] For humans though, the fruit is poisonous, but other portions of the plant have been used in the past. Historically, Native Americans used the root bark as a skin astringent, fever reducer, a pain reliever for various ailments, an antidiarrheal agent, and to even counteract many poisons as well as a general tonic. The bark itself was used for a throat aid, headaches and backaches, and as an infusion for some childhood diseases like measles. The flowers were utilized for fever reductions and colic pain relief. Finally, compound infusions of various parts of the plant were used as medicine for blood diseases and as blood purifiers.[11]
Diseases and parasites
C. florida has been impacted since the 1980s by widespread infection by the dogwood anthracnose fungus (Discula destructive).[4] Other pests and diseases include several wood boring insects and canker diseases that invade the main stem, and others that can attack the leaves and branches of the plant.[2]
Conservation and Management
C. florida is listed as endangered by the Maine Department of Conservation Natural Areas Program, exploitably vulnerable by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Land and Forests, and threatened by the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Nongame and Natural Heritage Program. [1] For timber stand improvement and tree harvest operations, 5 to 6 dogwoods should be left per acre for aesthetic purposes as well as a food source for wildlife.[2]
Cultivation and restoration
This species can be used in restoration efforts for urban forestry projects and even restoration of abandoned strip mines since C. florida is a soil improver due to the leaf litter decomposing quicker than most other species it associates with.[11]
Photo Gallery
References and notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 USDA Plant Database https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=COFL2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 USDA NRCS Plant Materials Program. (2006). Plant Fact Sheet: Flowering dogwood Cornus florida. N.R.C.S. United States Department of Agriculture.
- ↑ Gee, K. L., et al. (1994). White-tailed deer: their foods and management in the cross timbers. Ardmore, OK, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Weakley, A. S. (2015). Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Herbarium.
- ↑ Concilio, A., et al. (2005). "Soil respiration response to prescribed burning and thinning in mixed-conifer and hardwood forests." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35: 1581-1591.
- ↑ URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2018. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey, Gwynn W. Ramsey, Loran C. Anderson, William F. Sheridan, George R. Cooley, Joseph Monachino, J.P. Gillespie, Patricia Elliot, Gary R. Knight, K. Craddock Burks, Richard S. Mitchell, Lovett E. Willimas Jr., R.F. Christensen, C.C. Christensen, John W. Thieret, Windler, Keenan, Lombardo, Williams, A.J. Sharp, Evelyn Sharp, Frank Galyon, Clarke Hudson, R. Kral, R. L. Wyatt, Jerry C. Walters, George T. Jones, Roomie Wilson, Delzie Demaree, James, L. Luteyn, Jack P. Davis, Jewel Moore, W.R. Anderson, M.R. Crosby, Charles S. Wallis, Norlan C. Henderson, Charles Roach, Robert M. Downs, R.D. Whetstone, Mark A. Garland, Jolice Wiedenhoff, N. Summerlin, G. Gil, D.S. Kline, Harry E. Ahles, P. Crutchfield, Lloyd H. Shinners, R.E. Torrey, R.D. Houk, Gerald Poltorak, William D. Reese, C.L. Lundell, Amelia A. Lundell, W.F. Westerfeld, R.W. Booher, T. Sirko, H.A. Wahl, G.W. Parmelee, James R. Coleman, Andrew W. Westling, R.W. Nunan, William B. Masters, Kevin Oakes, Chris Cooksey, R. Komarek, W.M.D. Countryman. States and counties: Leon County Florida, Madison County Florida, Gadsden County Florida, Polk County Florida, Hernando County Florida, Wakulla County Florida, Liberty County Florida, Franklin County Florida, Jackson County Florida, Jefferson County Florida, Murray County Georgia, Iberia County Lousiana, Baltimore County Maryland, Sevier County Tennessee, Evangeline County Louisiana, Calcasieu County Louisiana, Natchitoches County Lousiana, Jefferson Davis County Mississippi, Lincoln County Louisiana, Forsyth County North Carolina, Bulloch County Georgia, Ashland County Ohio, Tangipahoa County Louisiana, Stone County Arkansas, Wake County North Carolina, Blount County Tennessee, Cobb County Georgia, Knox County Tennessee, Oconee County South Carolina, Muskogee County Oklahoma, Boone County Missouri, Morgan County West Virginia, Osage County Missouri, St. Mary County Lousiana, Marshall County Alabama, Stewart County Georgia, Grady County Georgia, Bastrop County Texas, Macon County North Carolina, Barbour County Alabama, Stone County Mississippi, Durham County North Carolina, Harrison County Mississippi, Wayne County Mississippi, Franklin County Massachusetts, Greene County Missouri, Ouachita County Louisiana, Union County Louisiana, Ingham County Michigan, Rapides County Louisiana, Montgomery County Virginia, Cherokee County Texas, Clearfield County Pennsylvania, Huntington County Indiana, Bradford County Pennsylvania, Lafayette County Louisiana, St. Landry County Lousiana, West Feliciana County Louisiana, De Kalb County Georgia, Transylvania County North Carolina, Dallas County Missouri, Thomas County Georgia, Cheshire County New Hampshire.
- ↑ Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 18 MAY 2018
- ↑ Myster, R. W. and S. T. A. Pickett (1993). "Effects of litter, distance, density and vegetation patch type on post dispersal tree seed predation in old fields." Oikos 66: 381-388.
- ↑ Kirkman, L. Katherine. Unpublished database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center, Georgia.
- ↑ Yarrow, G.K., and D.T. Yarrow. 1999. Managing wildlife. Sweet Water Press. Birmingham.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wennerberg, S. (2006). Plant Guide: Flowering dogwood Cornus florida. N.R.C.S. United States Department of Agriculture. Baton Rouge, LA.
