{"id":40701,"date":"2021-04-29T11:56:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&p=40701"},"modified":"2021-05-05T12:00:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:00:41","slug":"our-state-flower-the-cornus-florida","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/our-state-flower-the-cornus-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Our state flower, the Cornus florida!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris Goforth, Head of Citizen Science, and Jess Wackes, PR & Marketing Coordinator<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s that time in nature when the flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida)<\/em> are blooming!\u00a0 These beauties will pop up more and more as summer approaches, though flowering dogwoods are lovely any time of the year.<\/p>\n

\"What

What are signs of full spring? When dogwood trees are full of blossoms, of course!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Petals, but not really…<\/h3>\n

The flowering dogwood is one of the most iconic Southern trees (and our state flower) because they’re one of the first to bloom early spring. However, are you looking at the right “flower” when observing these sprightly white dazzlers?<\/p>\n

The white parts of the dogwood \u201cflower\u201d are actually bracts, or modified leaves, that protect the flowers developing inside. These bracts eventually peel back, revealing the true flowers they conceal: small, yellow-green blossoms seen in clusters at the bract’s center! The flowers typically begin to bloom before the leaves appear and most will have dropped from the tree before the last leaves have unrolled.<\/p>\n

The part they play<\/h3>\n

In fall and early winter, the trees sport bright red berry-like fruits that are important winter food sources for many local birds and mammals. Despite their importance, the production of these clusters has been threatened\u00a0in recent years by the fungal pathogen dogwood anthracnose.<\/p>\n

Because the disease quickly spreads through the wood and can damage or kill the tree, it’s of great concern in western North Carolina, other parts of the Eastern US, and the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find flowering dogwoods in the understory of the forest of Prairie Ridge Ecostation<\/a> along our Forest Trail. Their springy branches make them a favorite to birds and squirrels enjoying the lush landscape at Prairie Ridge. Take a moment in the sunshine to observe the creatures native to our state in this unique prairie nestled right outside of downtown Raleigh!<\/p>\n

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For more information about our upcoming activities, seasonal news and ground-breaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0Join the conversation with #visitNCMNS. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40928,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}