Dogwood Ranch’s Namesake

Dogwood trees are a true joy on Dogwood Ranch. In fact, we were so impressed with the flowering dogwood trees; they inspired the name of the ranch.

There are two types of dogwood trees on the ranch-the impressive flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) and the less dramatic roughleaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii). Both are native to the area. When not in bloom, the best way to identify these trees is by the bark. The bark on the dogwood has little squares about the size of a thumbnail. Its branches splay out in planes or layers around the tree and after flowering in the spring, are covered with graceful delicate bright green leaves. When they are not in bloom, the best way to distinguish the roughleaf dogwood from the flowering dogwood is by gently rubbing your fingers on a leaf. The roughleaf dogwood, not surprisingly by its name, has a rough feel to them, especially on the topside of the leaf. The flowering dogwood leaves are smooth. During bloom, the flowering dogwood tree is completely covered in impressive white “blooms”, really bracets, while the roughleaf dogwood flowers with a simple cluster of blooms. Honey bees seem to love the roughleaf dogwood blooms.

Flowering dogwoods herald the welcome arrival of springtime at Dogwood Ranch when the trees burst into snow-white “bloom.” Flowering Dogwood blooms are many crowded, small, yellowish perfect flowers, borne in terminal clusters in the spring before the leaves appear, and surrounded by four snow-white, petal-like bracts 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) across and provide the spectacular display in the springtime. The snow-white bracets that are often referred to as “flowers” and provide the springtime show but they are not really flowers at all.

Both flowering and roughleaf dogwood is extremely valuable for wildlife because the seed, fruit, flowers, twigs, bark, and leaves are used as food by many birds and animals. The most distinguishing food quality of dogwood is its high calcium and fat content. Fruits are eaten by at least 36 species of birds, including ruffed grouse, bob-white quail, and wild turkey. Chipmunks, foxes, skunks, rabbits, deer, beaver, black bears, and squirrels, in addition to other mammals, also eat dogwood fruits. Foliage and twigs are heavily browsed by deer and rabbits.

Traditionally, virtually all the dogwood harvested was used in the manufacture of shuttles for textile weaving, but plastic shuttles have rapidly replaced this use. Small amounts of dogwood are still used for other items requiring hard, close-textured, smooth wood capable of withstanding rough use. Examples are spools, small pulleys, mallet-heads, jewelers' blocks, and turnpins for shaping the ends of lead pipes. On Dogwood Ranch, the dogwood trees are a source of peaceful beauty in spring when they bloom, in the summer with the delicate bright green leaves and in the fall with vibrant red leaves before the tree goes bare for the few short months of winter.

The roughleaf dogwood owes its species name (Cornus drummondii) to Thomas Drummond, (ca. 1790-1835), a naturalist, born in Scotland, around 1790. In 1830 he made a trip to America to collect specimens. In March, 1833, he arrived in Texas at Velasco. He spent twenty-one months collecting specimens between Galveston Island and the Edwards Plateau, especially along the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe rivers. His collections were the first from Texas that were extensively distributed among the museums and scientific institutions of the world. He collected 750 species of plants and 150 specimens of birds. Drummond had hoped to make a complete botanical survey of Texas, but he died in Havana, Cuba, in 1835, while making a collecting tour of that island.

There are hundreds of dogwoods, both flowering and roughleaf, along the seasonal creek and back in the woods on Dogwood. Dogwood trees are understory trees, meaning they grow under the taller overstory larger trees in the woods and on the forest edge. The overstory woods on Dogwood Ranch consist of several varieties of oak, American elm, cedar elm, Texas pecan, black walnut and several other large trees making a canopy about 60 feet from the ground. Most of these trees have large trunks and we believe some are well over half a century old. Both types of dogwood trees grow under these taller trees along the seasonal creek.

On Dogwood Ranch, usually around March 18-March 30, the flowering dogwood trees burst out in bloom. They are gorgeous and the first sign, even before the oak trees put on leaves, that spring has sprung on Dogwood Ranch. About the same time, the Mexican plum trees bloom. The Mexican plum will be discussed in a later post. It is during this time that we host our famous, but not quite annual, Dogwood Blooming Party & Cajun Boil.

For more information about flowering and roughleaf dogwood as well as other native Texas flowers, check out the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website http://www.wildflower.org/explore/. The United States Department of Agriculture also has an extensive online plant database at http://plants.usda.gov/.