The best time to see dogwood blooms in the Ozarks is from the
middle of April to early May. Drive through any hardwood forest
and you'll see the brilliant-white blossoms in the understory.
Dogwoods and redbuds do bloom at the same time in many spots so
it is not uncommon to see the two trees side-by-side in blossom.
Both trees bloom before the leaves appear on their hardwood
hosts. In late March and early April wild cherry and wild plum
also bloom with brilliant white blossoms which may be mistaken
as dogwood. The plum and cherry blooms do not have the large
petal-like bracts of the dogwood bloom. Known simply as
"dogwood" by many people the flowering dogwood is also called
boxwood and cornel. Yet even though the "florida" in its Latin
name means flowering, the white blossom is not truly a flower.
The showy petal-like bracts are actually a form of leaf. The
actual flower is the small, yellowish cluster found in the
center of the bracts. Each cluster has several very small
flowers. While most dogwoods have sno