4 BULLETIN 1436, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
or crooked and contain ridges. The bark of the young dogwood is 
composed of small quadrangular or many-sided red-brown scales, 
very characteristic of the genus. As the trees grow older the bark 
loses to some degree this distinguishing scalelike appearance; the 
scales with their quadrangular sides drop off, leaving the bark 
smoother and more flaky. 
Users believe that wood from the lighter smooth-barked trees is 
inferior to wood from darker rough-barked trees. The fact that 
the former are generally older trees and therefore slower growing 
Fig. 2. — The natural range of flowering dogwood, with the estimated stand of 
commercially available timber in certain States expressed in cords. (M=1,000 
cords) 
under natural conditions may account for a difference in texture, but 
there is no apparent reason why the wood should be inferior. 
Before quinine came into general use the root bark of native dog- 
wood was one of the many barks used as a fever medicine. One 
manufacturer in the southern part of the United States says that 
his laborers when cutting dogwood do not suffer from malaria. The 
bark extract of both roots and stems is very bitter. Extracts from 
some dogwoods are said to be powerful narcotics and anodynes. 
Medical authorities in Edinburgh have employed an extract of the 
wood of one of the species native to Scotland in examinations of the 
