First cultivated in 1731 , dogwood tree are among some of the prettiest trees used in landscape gardening today . Their beautiful white flush give off a lacy appearance , though some varieties have pink flowers . The cornel is aboriginal to several continents admit Europe , Asia and North America , where its uses throughout account date to Native Americans and former settler . The dogwood is also the source of at least two myths ; the dates and origin of origin for both are unknown .

Dogwood as a State Flower or Tree

Founding Padre Thomas Jefferson was catch of dogwoods and get them at his home , Monticello , in Virginia in the late 1770s . This later led to the state naming the bloom of the dogwood tree diagram as its res publica blossom in 1918 and its United States Department of State tree in 1956 . In 1941 , the dogwood flower also became the state flush of North Carolina . Missouri constitute the dogwood tree its state tree in 1955 .

Dogwoods and Native American Uses

Native Americans discover a wide range of uses for the dogwood tree . The other saltation blooms of the cornel were a sign to them to institute corn . The wood from the cornel tree was used to make toothbrushes , daggers and arrows . Some kin group , such as the Cheyenne , Apache , Potawatomi and others used the intimate barque of the dogwood tree in a tobacco mixture for the sacred pipework .

Dogwood and the Early Settlers

The density of the wood and the absence seizure of silica , making it less potential to scratch thing the wood come in striking with , meant dogwood could be used for distinctiveness item . lilliputian splinters could be used for cleaning the smallest hole in watches and debris from rich - seated optical electron lens . Among its myriad uses , dogwood was crafted into hay forks , mallets , cogwheel , crocheting hooks and knit needle . T - squares and rulers , forks and spoons and even printing block were among its many uses .

Dogwood and Indian Lore

Indian traditional knowledge tells of a beautiful Cherokee princess who was woo by a brave . She refused his advances and in a jealous madness , he drink down her . The maiden used the blossoms of a dogwood tree to hook up her stemma as she lay cash in one’s chips . This is used to explain the violent smirch at the tip of each petal or bract . The red - blossomed dogwood is list Cherokee in honor of the caption .

Dogwood and Christian Lore

Legend has it that the dogwood once grew grandiloquent and straight like other trees . The wood from the dogwood was said to have been used to construct the cross Jesus was crucified upon . The dogwood tree was overwrought over this special exercise and Jesus took commiseration upon it promising that it would never again be used for Crucifixion . Since then , the dogwood tree has grown dented and twisted , unable to reach pregnant height . The petals of its flowers grew in the contour of the cross , each bear the reddish stigma of a out of practice nail . The dogwood , however , has never grow in that part of the public , and the story has tooth root in the early 20th century .

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