Mine is not late blooming but I think the flowers are as you describe. The Asian redtwig cornus has similar flowers but is a bush.

Scroll down my link for the latest photos.

Late in the year ideas....crepe myrtle?

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg0101395523585.html

Gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa is native to that area and produces the flowers you describe and white fruit. As do all the twig or shrub dogwoods, C. alba, sericea and stolonifera. All of these have the potential to grow into large tree-like shrubs (12-16', depending on culitvar). The flowers are also a very rich nectar source for various insects.

Typically, bloom time for any of these will be late spring - early summer but much shade can delay blooming. C. sericea, which is native to my area, often doesn't show much of a bloom period until late summer.

Thanks a lot, gardengal. I've looked at descriptions of all three of those on VA Tech's vTree site. The fruit clusters looked similar enough that I was convinced it had to be a dogwood, but various details didn't seem quite right.

vTree describes C. sericea as having bright red twigs, and I think I would have noticed that, but I don't remember the twigs being a special color like that.

The bloom time seems too late for C. sericea and C. alba.

C. sericea, C. alba, and C. racemosa are all described as shrub or thicket-like in form, and my friend's trees looked very tree-like, even a little lanky, almost like our native serviceberry.

My friend and I both mistook the trees for cherries at first, like young P. serotina. If that's any help, the bark looked enough like cherry bark to fool a couple guys that are pretty familiar with most of the common native trees.

C. sericea, C. alba, and C. racemosa are respectively described on the vTree site as up to 15, up to 6, and up to 10 feet tall but all generally shorter, and I'd say these trees were 15' or taller.

It just seems like too many details don't quite fit. None of the options seem to fit the form. Could I be off altogether on the dogwood assumption? Are there other dogwood species that could be options? If not and assuming it's a dogwood, I'd have to lean toward C. sericea for height but not for the twig color and bloom time. C. racemosa seems closer to the right bloom time and the bark and twigs don't seem off (based on my rough memory), but the height and form seem too far off.

It could very well be something other than a dogwood, although the fruits and flowers sound very similar - white fruit is not all that common :-))

As far as the size and habit of the plants, that's extremely variable. In many cases, untended shrub dogwoods produce a rangy, open, very tree-like habit. Here, the native species is often mistaken for a smallish tree. And size is hugely dependent on growing conditions - if happy and with sufficient water, these can all get big. Dirr notes a national champion racemosa in MI that is 38;' in height and a sericea that is 26'!!

Bark color is not all that noticeable in summer/fall - "red twigs" are more of a dark maroon-y brown. They take on the more intense color with winter cold and sun. And they could look a lot like cherry in bark appearance in season.

Dogwood leaves are pretty distinct in appearance, so photos of them could certainly help confirm ID. As would pics of any fruit.

I've used a native red-twig dogwood colony to cross a stream, by walking on its bent over stems that were quite adequate to contain my weight, were wider than my feet. I have seen at least two examples growing on developed properties, where they were surrounded by cut grass or other low growth - in other words, in the open and fully visible - that had single trunks of some size below the usual viburnum-like, untidy tops (in these cases of some height).

Most trees and shrubs produce a rather broad range of sizes and to an extent, shapes under the various conditions that different individuals experience.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornus sericea ssp. occidentalis : American Forests

This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Nov 7, 14 at 20:45

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. Toronada and beng, I don't know why I didn't see your replies when I last posted, but that's the only reason I didn't acknowledge them last time. I held off on responding again waiting for the friend to send me some photos I could post to help ID, but that hasn't happened. I may be visiting again soon, though, so maybe I can take some photos myself.

cousinfloyd,
Look up images for Bee Bee Tree or Evodia daniellii
This tree blooms after sourwood finishes and will draw in the honeybees.