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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Friday - August 05, 2005

From: East Point, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Non-Natives, Trees
Title: Smarty Plants on dogwoods
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I am interested in the worldwide distribution of the dogwood family/cornus. Specifically, I am interested in whether or not there are indiginous species on the Indian Subcontinent. Is there a resource I might access for this information? Thank you.

ANSWER:

Our area of expertise and interest is the native plants of North America. You can find listings of the members of the Genus Cornus in the Family Cornaceae (Dogwood Family) in North America in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) database and the USDA Plants Database.

For members of the Family Cornaceae on the Indian sub-continent I searched the internet and found reference to a botantical field guide The Flora of Presidency of Bombay. Volume 2. Cornaceae to Chenopodiaceae that suggests that there are at least some members of the family found there. You could try a search in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility by country of interest for members of the genus or family.
 

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