This southeastern species is common in most regions of Ky. C. florida is uncommon to rare in the native woodlands of more fertile agricultural regions, but it has become widely planted as an ornamental tree. The species appears to benefit in general from soil calcium and other components of fertility (e.g. Holzmueller et al. 2007), but herbivory by deer or other animals can be intense when nutrient contents are high (e.g. Cardenasso et al. 2002). In the central Bluegrass, Short (1828-9) noted: "In common with the red-bud, white oak and poplar (tulip tree,) the dog-wood is confined in this country, to the thinner and more broken soils bordering on the Kentucky river and other water-courses, never being found on the first rate lands." There appears to have been a general decline in Cornus florida across the Ohio Valley since the 1990s, which is often attributed to "dogwood anthracnose", a fungus with probable alien origin (Discula destructiva). However, most of the decline in some cases appears to have been caused by general successional trends (and lack of burning), perhaps interacting with pathogens in deeper shade (Hiers & Evans 1997, McEwan et al. 2000, Holzmueller et al. 2006, Pierce et al. 2008). Many healthy trees remain, especially in more open areas. The related East Asian species, C. kousa Burger ex Hance, is widely planted and it has become locally invasive in northeastern states (Connolly & Brand 2016, Christopher 2023), but there are no records from Ky. See notes on generic concepts under C. mas.