Sunday, April 6, 2014

THE DOGWOOD FILES (A GREAT TREE PHOTO BLOG)

Hi Everybody!!
The Dogwood Trees here at my Bird Sanctuary bloom after the Fruit Trees have stopped blooming. The showy white flower bracts open with the azaleas and bluebonnets for the "Grand Finale" of the Spring Bloom. Many of the old growth dogwoods in the area have been lost to the heat and drought of the past few years. I encourage everybody to replant the dogwoods so our grandchildren will see them. They are small, slow growing trees that can be planted under larger trees. I have shared info from Wikipedia below. You may also Google 'dogwood' and find more info and where to buy. The photostudies are linked below as well as a previous post I did on dogwoods with more photos. Enjoy and let me know if you plant a tree or two!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornus_(genus)

Cornus (genus)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cornus is a genus of about 30–60 species^{[Note 1]} of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most are deciduous trees orshrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen. Several species have small heads of inconspicuous flowers surrounded by an involucre of large, typically white petal-like bracts, while others have more open clusters of petal-bearing flowers. The various species of dogwood are native throughout much of temperate and borealEurasia and North America, with China and Japan and the southeastern United States particularly rich in native species.

Species include the common dogwood Cornus sanguinea of Eurasia, the widely cultivated flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) of eastern North America, the Pacific dogwood Cornus nuttallii of western North America, the Kousa dogwoodCornus kousa of eastern Asia, and two low-growing boreal species, the Canadian and Eurasian dwarf cornels (or bunchberries), Cornus canadensis and Cornus suecica respectively.

Common name "dogwood"[edit]

The name "dog-tree" entered the English vocabulary by 1548, and had been further transformed to "dogwood" by 1614. Once the name dogwood was affixed to this kind of tree, it soon acquired a secondary name as the Hound's Tree, while the fruits came to be known as dogberries or houndberries (the latter a name also for the berries of black nightshade, alluding to Hecate's hounds). Another theory advances the view that "dogwood" was derived from the Old English dagwood, from the use of the slender stems of its very hard wood for making "dags" (daggers, skewers, and arrows).^[2]^[3] Another, earlier name of the dogwood in English is the whipple-tree. Geoffrey Chaucer uses "whippletree" inThe Canterbury Tales ("The Knight's Tale", verse 2065) to refer to the dogwood. A whippletree is an element of the traction of a horse-drawn cart, linking the drawpole of the cart to the harnesses of the horses in file; these items still bear the name of the tree from which they are commonly carved.

Characteristics[edit]

Dogwoods have simple, untoothed leaves with the veins curving distinctively as they approach the leaf margins. Most dogwood species have opposite leaves, while a few, such as Cornus alternifolia and C. controversa, have their leaves alternate. Dogwood flowers have four parts. In many species, the flowers are borne separately in open (but often dense) clusters, while in various other species (such as the flowering dogwood), the flowers themselves are tightly clustered, lacking showy petals, but surrounded by four to six large, typically white petal-like bracts.

The fruits of all dogwood species are drupes with one or two seeds, often brightly colorful. The drupes of several species in the subgenera Cornus andBenthamidia are edible. Many are without much flavor. Cornus kousa andCornus mas are sold commercially as edible fruit trees. The fruits of Cornus kousa have a sweet, tropical pudding like flavor in addition to hard pits. The fruits of Cornus mas are both tart and sweet when completely ripe. They have been eaten in Eastern Europe for centuries, both as food and medicine to fight colds and flus. They are very high in vitamin C. However, those of species in subgenus Swida are mildly toxic to people, though readily eaten by birds.

Dogwoods are used as food plants by the larvae of some species of butterflies and moths, including the Emperor moth, the Engrailed, the small angle shades, and the following case-bearers of the genus Coleophora: C. ahenella, C. salicivorella (recorded on Cornus canadensis), C. albiantennaella, C. cornellaand C. cornivorella, with the latter three all feeding exclusively on Cornus.

Uses[edit]

Dogwoods are widely planted horticulturally, and the dense wood of the larger-stemmed species is valued for certain specialized purposes. Cutting Boards and other fine turnings can be made from this fine grained and beautiful wood. The red seeds are used by over 32 different varieties of game birds to feed upon, including quail.^[4]

Fruits[edit]

Cornus mas is commonly cultivated in Southeastern Europe for its edible berries, which can be eaten raw after slight bletting, turned into jams, and fermented into a wine.

Cornus canadensis fruit

Medicinal[edit]

Cornus florida has been proven to prevent the spread of malaria.^[9] Their bark is rich in tannin and has been used as a substitute for quinine.^[10]During the civil war confederate soldiers would make a tea from the bark to treat pain and fevers, and dogwood leaves in a poultice to cover wounds.^[11]

Cultural references

A Christian legend of unknown origin proclaims that the cross used to crucify Jesus was constructed of dogwood.^[20] As the story goes, during the time of Jesus, the dogwood was larger and stronger than it is today and was the largest tree in the area of Jerusalem. After His Crucifixion, Jesus changed the plant to its current form: He shortened it and twisted its branches to assure an end to its use for the construction of crosses. He also transformed its inflorescence into a representation of the Crucifixion itself, with the four white bracts cross-shaped, which represent the four corners of the Cross, each bearing a rusty indentation as of a nail and the red stamens of the flower, represents Jesus' Crown of Thorns, and the clustered red fruit represent His Blood.^[21]