The dogwood is the state tree (whatever that means) of Missouri, so I’ve heard the dogwood story a lot.
Obviously it makes no sense whatsoever. Dogwoods didn’t suddenly mutate to their present form about 1965 years ago; if they had, you’d think there’d be some kind of record of it: “Someone stole the dogwood in front of the palace last night and replaced it with this funny-looking little scrawny twisty tree.”
I don’t know if dogwood is even native to the Jerusalem area, but I suspect that it’s not.
Is there a word for legends that were never INTENDED to be believed? The best I can come up with is “tall tales,” and the dogwood story doesn’t really seem to fit in alongside Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan.