There are somewhere between 30 to 60 species of Dogwood in the family Cornaceae. This one, Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa), is quite different in many ways from the Dogwood that I’m most familiar with, Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida. But first, the leaves look very similar, and they are both opposite.
Gray Dogwood is in full bloom, as I am writing this, in June. Unlike my familiar Flowering Dogwood, with its large blooms, this Gray Dogwood’s flowers are very small and many, which grow together in rounded clusters.
As summer turns to autumn, the Gray Dogwood’s flowers turn to berries, and not crimson red berries, but creamy white berries, which birds love.
And along with those berries in autumn, come leaves turning lovely colors. And another difference – not the rich red of Flowering Dogwood leaves, but yellow with a hints of burgundy to add to the fiesta of fall.
