Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. V 
NO. 16 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN. MASS. OCTOBER 30. 1919 
The Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida). It is perhaps not neces¬ 
sary to call attention again to this tree which in recent years has been 
planted in considerable numbers in those parts of the northeastern 
states where it is hardy, but the Flowering Dogwood has been excep¬ 
tionally beautiful this year, and its value for the decoration of the 
parks and gardens of eastern North America cannot be too often in¬ 
sisted on. Cornus florida “composes well,” as landscape gardeners 
would say, with the vegetation of eastern America, that is, where it 
is planted under our native trees or along the borders of natural woods 
it never looks out of place. In spring it enlivens the forest with sheets 
of the snow white floral bracts which surround the heads of small yel¬ 
low flowers. In October the leaves of not one of our smaller native 
trees assumes more beautiful shades of crimson, scarlet, orange or 
yellow, and as the leaves change color gradually leaves which are still 
green are often mixed with those which have become brightly colored. 
The autumn beauty of the leaves is increased, too, by the contrast in 
the colors of their upper and lower surfaces, for only the upper sur¬ 
face changes color, the lower retaining until the leaves fall the pale 
or nearly white color of summer. In the autumn, too, the clusters of 
bright scarlet fruits add another charm to this tree which is often 
short-lived for birds devour the fruit almost as fast as it ripens. The 
conspicuous gray flower-buds which open the following spring are 
formed in the late summer and add to the beauty and interest of the 
tree during the autumn and winter. A variety of Cornus florida with 
red floral bracts was found in Virginia several years ago and has been 
