The Flowering Dogwood is a tree surrounded with much lore and healing potential. In the paragraphs to follow, we'll walk through some of these stories.

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Known for its elegance and captivating beauty in spring, the dogwood was known by Native Americans as much more than a charming woodland species.

Home of Little People

In cultures throughout the world over time, humans have told stories of "Little People."

Little People refer to those who are small in stature who usually call the woods their home. Reserved for the eyes of few, these little people are sometimes mischievous and often wise, carrying messages for those they encounter.

To the Cherokee, the dogwood was known as the home of these little people.

Also known as the American dogwood, Florida dogwood, Indian arrowwood, Cornelian tree, white cornel, white dogwood, false box, and false boxwood , the dogwood tree is home to the dogwood people.

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The dogwood people teach us:

"If you do something for someone, do it out of goodness of your heart. Don't do it to have people obligated to you or for personal gain."

Let us move onto more details and medicinal observations of the Flowering Dogwood or Cornus florida.

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Cornus florida: A Case Study

Dogwood is a tree I grew up around. As is typical with humans, the things which seem "familiar" to us often pass by without fanfare. Since I moved to Missouri, however, this elegant spring flowering tree has captivated my attention and caused me to take a second look.

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Basically, the dogwood has wooed me.

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Alongside its beauty, the dogwood has been used in the production of inks, scarlet dyes, and as a quinine substitute. The hard, dense wood has been used for products such as golf club heads, mallets, wooden rake teeth, tool handles, jeweler’s boxes and butcher’s blocks.

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Range

By Elbert L. Little, Jr., of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and others - USGS Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center: Digital Representations of Tree Species Range Maps from "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. (and other publications), Public Domain

If you live in the following areas, you'll be able to pick dogwood out in the spring as it's one of the first flowering trees. When taking a "long view" of a forest, you'll notice patches of white - these are likely dogwood.

They provide a delightful elegance to the eye that is starved for fresh delights after the long winter.

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Medicine

The Dogwood furthermore provides us with a wonderful energetic medicine:

that can focus the mind, heal bodily unease, and promote a strong and steady gentleness within oneself.

According to Asia Suler of One Willow Apothecaries,

This refining essence clears away the nagging and unnecessary worries and allows you to focus on the tasks in your life that are necessary and ultimately fulfilling for your own happiness and vital expression of individuality. Dogwood is recommended for those who need to feel a renewed enthusiasm for work or the practical side of life, as well as those who feel rigid and stuck in a prison of endless To-Do lists and isolating busyness.

Dogwood is also a tree that is often used as an ornamental. If you've been charmed by the essence of dogwood, they're easy to find at most nurseries in regions where the tree easily grows.

And as far as the name Dogwood...

No one truly knows though it likely is a variation of the name Dagwood, which relates to wood used for making arrows (dag like dagger). --Or-- that the wood is as "hard as a dog."

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Thanks for reading. For more inspiring posts, check out other passengers of the #ecotrain.