*Japanese dogwood

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*Cornus kousa
JAPANESE DOGWOOD

Cornaceae
Asia

Location: map coordinates A-21 (on Loop Road, southeast of Football Stadium), N 39°11'18'' W 75°32'34''

Planting history: planted 11/1/12. Source: Chester River Landscaping. Gift from Arbor Day Foundation.

Description:
  • small- to medium-sized deciduous tree
  • etymology: Cornus = Latin for horn (which is hard; referring to the wood); kousa = the Japanese name
  • leaves opposite (as in most dogwoods); leaf veins arcuate (curve towards the tip, parallel to the leaf edges)
  • flowers small, in a cluster surrounded by 4 large white bracts that are commonly mistaken for the petals (bracts pointed, not rounded as in the native flowering dogwood C. florida,); produced after the leaves emerge (unlike flowering dogwood, which blooms ca 1 month earlier, before the leaves emerge)
  • fruit resembles a big raspberry; round, pinkish-red, ca 1” wide, formed of fused ovaries; edible, but usually left for birds
  • resistant to dogwood anthracnose disease, which affects the native dogwood C. florida

*Non-native species (not native to Delaware)
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