Flowering Dogwood is a beautiful shrub to small tree with a straggling, spreading crown. It presents lovely boughs of white inflorescences in springtime forests. In the fall, it is ornamental with bright fruits and deep red, purple, and orange foliage. 

Its leaves are opposite, simple, egg-shaped, 3-5 inches long, dark green, with slightly wavy edges. Bark is dark gray to brown with thin, squarish plates. Flowers are small, in inflorescences of 25-30, surrounded by 4 large, white, petal-like bracts, and appear in early spring before the leaves. Fruits are scarlet, egg-shaped berries, ½ inch long, in clusters of 2-6.