Flowering dogwood has a long history of cultivation and occurs naturally throughout much of the eastern U.S. Humphry Marshall, a cousin of John Bartram, and a well-known 18th century botanist in his own right, wrote that it, “flowers in May and is deservedly ranked amongst the beautiful flowering [trees].” In Colonial times, Cornus florida was used with some success for treating malaria and its branches were used as distaffs in spinning fiber.