I have two dogwood trees growing in the yard. I am trying to identify them. The pedals are pointed and not indented like the many photos I have seen. I thought this might be part of the 'Cherokee" family because of the color. Can someone identify this bloom for me? I live in North Carolina in the foothills. Thanking you in advance.

Looks like Cornus florida.

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

There is a Cornus florida Cherokee Princess which has white bracts but I understand the bracts are larger than Cornus florida.

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

It looks like the trees my daughters grew from seed when they were young, which were all mixes between dogwoods around the neighborhood. Do they have graft lines.

I believe this may be a Oriental dogwood as those appear to have the pointed tips of the bracts. Tewhano, those are actually bracts not flowers. The flowers are the part in the center & in your photo the flowers have not bloomed yet. We do commonly refer to the dogwoods as blooming though when the bracts on the trees open.

See:
It can be distinguished from the flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) of eastern North America by its more upright habit, flowering about a month later, and by the pointed rather than rounded flower bracts.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

And:
The white, pointed bracts are produced a month later than flowering dogwood and are effective for about a month, sometimes longer.
From: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st191

And:
the true flowers (which are ornamentally insignificant) are small yellow-green inflorescences centered among the four showy white bracts, the latter of which are obovate and distinctly acuminate, with the diameter of the entire inflorescence being about 3" wide
From: https://hvp.osu.edu/pocketgard...

And:
The bracts themselves with the flowers and the show that you get are about 4 inches wide, now the interesting thing about this is that you are going to get flowers that have a tapered tip kinda point to it, a lot different than our native flowering dogwood.
From: http://www.clemson.edu/extensi...

Question
On your dogwoods, do the leaves come out before the flower bracts open?

I vote for Cornus florida.

I know nothing about Dogwoods ... only that they are beautiful and I wish they would grow this far south! Here are a few photos for comparison of C. florida vs. C. kousa:

islander said:I vote for Cornus florida.

Having lived up in VA this is the tree that I waited for the flowering of in the spring. I had a couple dozen in the yard. I agree with Cornus florida with the rounded bracts and distinct notches at the apex.
The original post photo shows still maturing bracts and flowers.
A look in the Cornus florida database here shows a few photos of the pointed bract Dogwood Cornus kousa mixed in.

[quote="ScotTi
A look in the Cornus florida database here shows a few photos of non Cornus florida mixed in.

[/quote]
I have requested those non Cornus florida be moved.

DaisyI said:It looks like the trees my daughters grew from seed when they were young, which were all mixes between dogwoods around the neighborhood. Do they have graft lines.

I do not see any graft lines.

flaflwrgrl said:Question
On your dogwoods, do the leaves come out before the flower bracts open?

No, all there is right now is the bracts.

plantladylin said:Here are a few photos for comparison of C. florida vs. C. kousa:

Mine look like the first photo posted by HamiltonSquare except mine are more 'dirty' and washed out looking than the vibrant yellow he photographed.

Tewhano said:

No, all there is right now is the bracts.

Then they have to be Cornus florida.

Do you have any idea how old they are? How about getting us a photo of the entire tree? That can be added to the database too.

flaflwrgrl said:Do you have any idea how old they are? How about getting us a photo of the entire tree? That can be added to the database too.

I live in my stepson's house. I only lived here going on two years now but I believe the house is over fifty years old and the trees were here then according to a neighbor. Here is a picture of the tree. I estimate it to be around twenty feet tall.

The bracts are approximately 4cm from tip to tip and are more of a greenish tint than the snowy white I see in the neighboring properties. I am anxious to see what the flowers look like as I never really paid close attention to these trees before. Thank you everyone for your replies.

Here is another picture:

It is gorgeous!!! Nice. big, fat trunk! I looked around & can't find a particular cultivar that matches the coloration of your bracts. Just call them beautiful & enjoy them.

Wow! That is stunning /fabulous.
We grew several Cornus florida but just babies compared to that.

There are over 100 cultivars of Cornus florida....but I wouldn't mind betting that none were around when your tree was first planted.

http://www.uky.edu/hort/Flower...

I think your flowers may now be more developed than a day or so ago when you took your pic.
Camera/colour ...tricky...not always 100% accurate...as it depends on light intensity /shadows etc.

The pointed ends of the bracts are now turned under to make that indention I see in the photos I found on the web. The flower part has not changed though. I don't know what to expect when they bloom as none of the images I have seen on the web show this middle part blooming.

The flowers are the tiny bits inside the white bracts...this pic show you what they look like when they open.
Completely miss able!
Lots of images on www when you look carefully.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...:

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...:

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...:


https://www.google.co.uk/searc...:

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...:

Yep, you'd need to take the magnifying glass out there with you.

Thanks Silversurfer, I did see those pictures in my searchers but never noticed the opened flowers in them. Maybe I should have used a magnifying glass as flaflwrgrl suggest on the computer screen as well. They are not opened yet but when they do I will take my macro lens out to see what I can capture.