flowering dogwood

here is cornus florida of the family cornaceae:

this picture was take spring of '07 at Chapel Hill in south Hinds County, Mississippi. this tree was growing in a patch of mayapple tangled amongst a number of large thorny vines. it just so happens that there was a little friend hiding in the disk flowers.

c. florida is a native of these United States that has garnered the status of endangered or threatened in a few of the northeastern states. it is a beautiful flower well worth preserving, and thankfully, nowhere near being endangered here in the south.