Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) leaves in autumn, with flower buds already forming for next spring.
Photographer: Gary FlemingFlowering dogwood is considered a "calcium pump" in natural communities. It has the ability to draw calcium up from the deep soil through its roots, and concentrate it in its leaves.1 When those leaves fall and decompose, the calcium can then be used as a nutrient by other plants or animals. One beneficiary: snails, who need calcium for their shells. Snails in turn provide calcium to their predators such as box turtles, salamanders, and birds.
- 1. . 2007. The influence of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) on Land Snail diversity in a southern mixed hardwood forest. The American Midland Naturalist . 157(1):137-148