I am trying to identify the plant pictured in the attachment but have been unable to do so. The plants appear to be shrubs or possibly small trees that measure somewhere between four and seven feet tall and are about equally wide. The clusters of flowers are several inches across and are sparsely to moderately dense on the plants. I live in central Indiana and have found them growing mainly in wooded areas and they seem to be very attractive to some butterflies, especially tiger swallowtails, which are not usually attracted to white flowers. They are in bloom in late spring (May/June) Any help in identifying this species would be greatly appreciated!
Looks like a Cornus sp. It would be helpful to know what colour the berries are. eg. Cornus alba have white berries. Cornus sanguinea have black berries. http://www.aphotoflora.com/af_cornus_alba_siberian_dogwood.html http://www.trees-online.co.uk/commo...elivery-except-scottish-highlands-p-1448.html
Thank you. You put me on the right track when you suggested it might be a species of Cornus, but in doing further research with that as a starting point, I think it may actually be silky dogwood, Cornus amomum, which is native to Indiana and is found in wetland areas (which is where I've seen the ones I have). The following site has many excellent pictures that strongly resemble what I've seen: http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/coam2.html I'm not sure of the color of the berries, which in the case of C. amomum are blue, but I've been investigating the insect life in the area where I've seen them for several years now and recall seeing bushes with blue berries on them later in the summer, which may be C. amomum. Since they won't be forming for a while, I'll take a closer look at the bark and make certain the appearance corresponds to the descriptions I've found of C. amomum.
