The flowering dogwood, Cornus Florida, of the Family Cornaceae is the Virginia State flower and tree.

The dogwood blooms for a couple of weeks in the spring before the simple, opposite deciduous leaves appear. The flower has four white or pink bracts, with a cleft at each tip, that surround a cluster of tiny yellow flowers. The tree grows in the wild in Virginia and may reach 35 feet. It spreads wider than its height.

When the dogwoods are in efflorescence along the Colonial Parkway in Yorktown, Virginia, it appears that ballerinas are dancing in the forest.

Following the flowers, half-inch long oblong red fruits appear and persist into winter.