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White flowers in the spring, white berries in the fall, what can this tree be? It is Rough-leaf Dogwood, one of the few trees in Texas that has both white flowers and white berries. It is also known as Drummond Dogwood after the Scottish botanist Thomas Drummond, who came to North America in the 1830’s to study different plant species. Its Latin name is Cornus drummondii, cornus meaning horn after its white hard wood and drummondii after Thomas Drummond. It is related to the Flowering Dogwood of East Texas, differing in that the Flowering Dogwood has scarlet red berries and is more tree-like, while the Rough-leaf has white berries and is more shrub-like and found in North Central Texas.
The Rough-leaf is a perennial shrub or a small tree. It grows in full sun to part shade. It will grow as a single tree or in thickets with heights up to 20 feet and spreads from ten to 15 feet. It is commonly found along margins of woods, along stream beds, and fence rows. It enjoys clayey and rocky soils, but is quite adaptable to all types of soils including coarser sandier soils. Its flowers are flat-topped terminal clusters (buds at the top on end of stem) approximately three inches in diameter. Each individual flower has four petals and is about 1?4 of an inch wide. They are creamy white to light yellow and bloom from April to June. The leaves are rough to the touch because of the coarse short hairs on the upper surface and wooly hairs on the lower surface. They are simple, opposite, ovate (egg-shaped), and smooth margined. The four-inch-long green leaves have a net veining system that bends toward the tip and turn burgundy in fall. The fruit of the Rough-leaf begins with a greenish color around August and ripens to a beautiful whitish color in fall. Each fruit is drupe (fleshy meat covered by a thin skin with a stone at the center) and globular (round). The branches are slender, reddish-brown flexible shoots when they are young and turn to a reddish gray with age. The bark is grayish-brown, thin, scaly, flat bark. The wood beneath the bark is hard and white.
The Rough-leaf Dogwood has unmistakable wildlife value. The berries provide food for many birds and small animals such as foxes, skunks, and rabbits as well as wild turkey, bob- white quail, deer, and insects. The branches provide nesting for birds and cover for other wildlife. Deer and rabbits browse on the tender shoots and new leaves. The flowers provide much needed nectar for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and other insects.
This tree has been used in the past for shelterbelt planting or for windbreaks on the prairies and plains. Because Rough-leaf Dogwood spreads rapidly from root suckers and shoots, they should be maintained by mowing or manually pulling up excess shoots. Chemical foliar sprays can also be used if the plant becomes aggressive.
The dogwood has extremely hard wood and was used by Native American for arrow shafts, tee pee pegs, and pipes. Parts of the dogwood were believed to have antibiotic properties. The wood has also been used to make chew sticks to help prevent tooth decay. Because of the hardness of the wood it is still used today to make spools, pulleys, mallet heads, and jeweler’s blocks.
The Rough-leaf Dogwood offers beauty for the landscape with its white flowers and white berries as well as much needed cover and nesting and food for wildlife. So if you happen to pass one of these trees along the roadside, stop and take a long look at what nature has packed into one of these little trees.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: julietcarter
