Mary Lynn Gibbst age 7. of Royal Oaks B. C.. for her question:

How did dogwood get its name?

Long. long ago English mothers taught their children which of the wild. berries to leave alone. These they said are fit only for birds. We will call them bird cherries. These are fit  for bears, so we will call them bearberries. These are fit only for dogs the dogberries.

Several different trees were called dogberry trees. Among them were the alder and the buckthorns The red fruit of the wild rose was also called a dogberry.  In time the delicate wild rose itself was called the dog rose.

Other countries took up the custom of naming trees the dogberry when their fruits were unfit for human food. Naturally. it was only one step further to call these unappetizing plants dogwood. In Australia the cottonwood is called the dogwood. In Nova Scotia. the mountain ash is called the dogwood. Though  naturally' dogs are meat eaters and never bother with these fruits and berries.

Here we name several tress and bushes dogwood. Among them are the beautiful flowering dogwoods. Some of their blossoms are not unlike the delicate pink dog rose.