Dogwood anthracnose (Discula destructiva) was first discovered in Illinois in 1995 at Dean Hills Nature Preserve, Fayette County. In the original study, individuals of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) showed a 97% increase in infection by dogwood anthracnose between July 1995 and August 1996. As all size classes of flowering dogwood were infected, it was predicted that the disease would probably cause the extirpation of this species at the site. Though not extirpated, flowering dogwood has not recovered from the initial infection (1995), when 3475 healthy stems/ha were encountered. Since that initial study, total flowering dogwood stems recorded for the site ranged from a low of 110 stems/ha in 1996, to 540 stems/ha in 2002, and 345 stems/ha in 2004.