‘Erica’s Appalachian Sunrise’: An Apomitically Derived Cultivar from Cornus florida ‘Comco No. 1’ Cherokee Brave™

Cornus florida L. or flowering dogwood is native throughout most of the eastern the southeastern United States and has become a mainstay ornamental tree species grown and sold by numerous small-or large-volume woody plant nurseries.Many of the popular cultivars are clonally propagated selections identified from natural variations present in seedlings growing in the field for disease resistance (e.g., powdery mildew; Windham et al. 2003) or in natural settings (e.g., 'Appalachian Spring', which is resistant to dogwood anthracnose; Windham et al. 1998), "sports" for floral bract/leaf color variations discovered on existing cultivars (Cherokee Sunrise), or cultivars with unique growth and floral bract traits from trees growing in natural environments (Rebecca's Appalachian Angel;Trigiano et al. 2023).Seldom are cultivars of flowering dogwood developed via breeding programs.However, 'Erica's Appalachian Sunrise' [EAS: US Plant Patent (PP) 32,468] was obtained from a breeding attempt between 'Karen's Appalachian Blush' [KAB (PP 13,165 P2;Windham et al. 2003)], which is resistant to powdery mildew, and 'Comco No. 1' Cherokee Brave™ [CB (PP 10,166)], which displays showy pink-red floral bracts in the spring.