Flowering Trees of Spring

Banishing the winter blues

Although we're accustomed to celebrating the annual show of fall color, Missouri's flowering trees of spring deserve as much fanfare. The sight of serviceberry and redbud blossoms can banish the last of your winter blues.

All trees produce flowers, but only a few of our native trees are showy enough to attract attention. Some of these are serviceberry, Eastern redbud, wild plum, red buckeye, flowering dogwood and hawthorn. Their peak of bloom moves from south to north, and from lower to higher elevation as the average daily temperature rises.

A good time to take a driving tour of these trees is during the last two weeks of April. But any time from March through May, you can look for this parade of showy woodland trees.

Watch for These Blooms March Through May

Serviceberry

Scientific name: Amelanchier arborea

Other Names: Sarviceberry, Shadbush

Blooms: March through May

Height: 6 to 40 feet

Range: Throughout Missouri

This white, starlike bloom appears before the leaves. Serviceberry appears throughout most of the state in open or nearly open or rocky woods, steep wooded slopes and bluffs.

Eastern Redbud

Scientific name: Cercis canadensis

Other names: Judas tree

Blooms: Late March to early May

Height: to 45 feet

Range: Througout Missouri

With pealike blossoms more hot pink than red, this showy tree grows on limestone soils in open woodlands, thickets, woodland borders, along rocky streams and on bluffs. The redbud usually blooms before the dogwood, but in the Ozarks the two will sometimes be found blooming together.

Wild Plum

Scientific name: Prunus americana

Blooms: April and May

Height: to 25 feet

Range: Througout Missouri

This tree often occurs in colonies in thickets, pastures and woodlands. Each fragrant, white flower in its cluster originates from the same point on the twig. Because the flower stalks and centers are red, the tree has a pink appearance even though the petals are normally white. Horiculturists have created more than 300 varieties from this one species.

Red Buckeye

Scientific name: Aesculus pavia

Blooms: mid-April and June

Height: 3 to 15 feet

Range: Southeast Missouri

This tree's reddish flower clusters stand upright and contrast with the dark green foliage. It grows in the southeast part of the state, where it finds shade and rich soil in low woods and valleys, along streams and at the base of bluffs.

Flowering Dogwood

Flowering Dogwood (State tree)

Scientific Name: Cornus florida

Blooms: mid-April and mid-May

Height: to 30 feet

Range: Throughout southern two-thirds of Missouri

This well-known and often planted tree is found on wooded slopes, ravines, along bluffs, upland ridges, in thickets and on well-drained soils. The showy bloom is actually composed of four large petal-like white bracts which surround a small yellow-green cluster composed of the true flowers.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn (State flower)

Scientific name: Crataegus sp.

Blooms: Late April to early June

Height: to 30 feet

Range: Throughout Missouri

As a group, the hawthorns include a large and complex number of species. Its various members (now at 79 species) are found in every county in the state and on a variety of sites. It generally prefers open woodlands and is an invader of disturbed land. Birds value its fruit.

Other Species

Very early, when the frost has barely left the ground in low moist areas, you may find the delicate, inconspicuous, star-shaped flowers of the spicebush. Later, after the trees have begun to leaf out, look for the white, ornate and tropical-looking catalpa tree blossoms; the yellow and orange, cup-shaped flowers of the tulip poplar (look up very high); the white, showy fragrant clusters of the black locust or the common white bloom of black cherry. These are but a few of the many blossoms to look for. Some are a challenge to see since they are very small or occur at the tops of trees. But add them all up and you have a beautiful woodland spring!

Missouri Department of Conservation