Cornus Florida (Flowering Dogwood)

Dogwood is a small indigenous tree from twelve to thirty feet high, with a very hard and compact wood, and covered with a rough and brownish bark.  The tree is of slow growth.  The leaves are opposite, smooth, ovate, acute, dark green above, paler beneath.  The flowers are very small, of a greenish yellow color, and constitute the chief beauty of the tree when in bloom.  The fruit is an oval drupe of a glossy scarlet color, containing a nut with two cells and two seeds.