flowering dogwood

American  

noun

1. a North American dogwood tree, Cornus florida, having small greenish flowers in the spring, surrounded by white or pink bracts that resemble petals: the state flower and the state tree of Virginia.

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Etymology

Origin of flowering dogwood

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

In Bridgeport, Conn., people still stroll the pathways around the pond at Mountain Grove Cemetery to admire the flowering dogwood trees in the spring or the brilliant foliage in the fall.

From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2016

If you did this in winter to, say, a flowering dogwood, you would lose the spring blossoms.

From Washington Post • Mar. 17, 2015

For example, the flowering dogwood, whose blossoms are the state flower of Virginia, is susceptible to a debilitating fungus.

From Washington Post

John P. Morgan's gardener, James S. Kelly, showed a wide border of giant tulips against a background of flowering dogwood.

From Time Magazine Archive

The principal trees are the yellow and sugar pines, digger pine, incense cedar, Douglas spruce, silver fir, the California and golden-cup oaks, balsam cottonwood, Nuttall's flowering dogwood, alder, maple, laurel, tumion, etc.

From The Yosemite by Muir, John