Cornus florida 'Cherokee Chief'

Common Name: flowering dogwood 

Type: Tree

Family: Cornaceae

Zone: 5 to 9

Height: 15.00 to 30.00 feet

Spread: 15.00 to 30.00 feet

Bloom Time: April to May

Bloom Description: Rose red

Sun: Full sun to part shade

Water: Medium

Maintenance: Medium

Suggested Use: Flowering Tree

Flower: Showy

Leaf: Good Fall

Attracts: Birds

Fruit: Showy

Tolerate: Deer, Clay Soil, Black Walnut

Garden locations

Culture

Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, organically rich, acidic soils in part shade. Benefits from a 2-4” mulch which will help keep roots cool and moist in summer. May be inadvisable at this time to plant this tree in areas where dogwood anthracnose infestations are present (see problems section below).

Noteworthy Characteristics

Cornus florida, commonly known as flowering dogwood, is a small deciduous tree that typically grows 15-30’ tall with a low-branching, broadly-pyramidal but somewhat flat-topped habit. It arguably may be the most beautiful of the native American flowering trees. It is native from Maine to southern Ontario to Illinois to Kansas south to Florida, Texas and Mexico. It is the state tree of Missouri and Virginia. It blooms in early spring (April) shortly after, but usually overlapping, the bloom period of the redbuds. The true dogwood flowers are actually tiny, yellowish green and insignificant, being compacted into button-like clusters. However, each flower cluster is surrounded by four showy, white, petal-like bracts which open flat, giving the appearance of a single, large, 3-4” diameter, 4-petaled, white flower. Oval, dark green leaves (3-6” long) turn attractive shades of red in fall. Bright red fruits are bitter and inedible to humans (some authors say poisonous) but are loved by birds. Fruits mature in late summer to early fall and may persist until late in the year.

Genus name comes from the Latin word cornus meaning "horn", possibly in reference to the strength and density of the wood. Cornus is also the Latin name for cornelian cherry (Cornus mas). May also be related to the Greek kerasos meaning "cherry".

Specific epithet comes from the Latin word flos flower in reference to its attractive spring flowers.

Common name of dogwood is in probable reference to an old-time use of hard slender stems from this tree for making skewers once known as dags or dogs.

‘Cherokee Chief’ is a cultivar that is noted for it deep rose red floral bracts. New foliage is tinged with red. U.S. Plant Patent PP1710 (1958).

Cornus florida 'Cherokee Chief' - Plant Finder (missouribotanicalgarden.org)

 

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