Growth Form: Small to medium tree to 40 feet tall; trunk diameter rarely more than 2 feet; crown rounded.
Bark: Brown, divided into squarish plates.
Twigs: Slender, greenish to light brown, smooth, often curving upward at the tip; leaf scars opposite, crescent-shaped, elevated, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: Of two kinds, the leaf buds slender, pointed, the flower buds flat and biscuit-shaped.
Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades elliptic to ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the base, up to 6 inches long, less than half as broad, the veins deeply impressed, the edges without teeth, green and smooth or sparsely hairy on the upper surface, pale and finely hairy or sometimes smooth on the lower surface; leafstalks up to ¾ inch long, smooth or finely hairy.
Flowers: Several crowded together in a yellow-green cluster, each cluster subtended by 4 large white petal-like bracts, appearing in late April and May.
Fruit: Red, ovoid berries up to ½ inch long, shiny, with mealy flesh and 1 or 2 seeds.
Wood: Hard, strong, heavy, close-grained, brown.
Uses: The wood is used in the making of tool handles, although the real value of the Flowering Dogwood is its ornamental potential.
Habitat: Woods.