Shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants of the genus Cornus , in the dogwood family (Cornaceae), found in temperate and warm temperate zones and on tropical mountains.
The family is noted for its woody ornamental species native to both coasts of North America and to eastern Asia and Europe. Some members, such as the flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida ), are chiefly ornamental; the European cornelian cherry ( C. mas ), also an ornamental, has edible fruit; others yield wood for furniture. In the flowering dogwoods, flowers are small; the conspicuously expanded structures are coloured bracts that surround the cluster of true flowers.
Flowers of flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida )
J.C. Allen and Son