Cornus L.

Dogwood

Some dogwood comparisons

	Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo’	Cornus amomum	Cornus canadensis
Common Name	Siberian dogwood	silky dogwood	bunchberry
Plant	4–6′ (1.2–1.8 m) around. Deep red stems with small sparsely placed lenticels are prominent in the winter.		Often only three inches high, sometimes forming nearly continuous mats on the forest floor, bunchberry rarely exceeds 8″ (20 cm).
Leaves	Variegated leaves have uneven patches of white around their edges. Leaves are 2–4½″ (5–11 cm) long, and turn purple-brown in the fall.		Alternating pairs of oval leaves.
Flowers	White (or yellow-white) blooms appear on growth that is at least 2-3 years old between May and June.		Four white "flower petals" are really bracts—modified leaves. They surround the real flowers, a tiny cluster of greenish flowers.
Fruit			A densely packed group of bright red berries above the leaves.
Range/ Zones	USDA Zones: 3-7	USDA Zones: 5-8
Habitats			Forest floors, bogs

	Cornus florida	Cornus kousa	Cornus obliqua
Common Name	flowering dogwood	kousa dogwood	narrowleaf dogwood
Plant	Flowering dogwood is somewhere between a large bush, at a typical 15′ (4.6 m) in height, and a small tree, at up to 30′ (9.1 m). It has a single trunk and rounded crown typical of a tree. Trunk bark separates into square blocks or scales about 1″ (2.5 cm) across as the tree ages.	Kousa dogwood is a small tree up to 20′ (6.1 m) in height, rarely reaching 30′ (9.1 m). More vase-shaped at first, it matures into a rounded crown. Trunk develops unevenly-shaped peeling scales at maturity, producing varying coloration in the trunk resembling camoflage.	These dogwoods are multiply branched shrubs up to 12′ (3.7 m) high. Branch bark is highly variable in color: gray, brown, reddish brown, red, or yellow-brown. Young twigs have fine hairs; mature branches have vertical lenticels.
Leaves	Opposite, 4–8″ (10–20 cm) long and half as wide, with smooth edges and prominent veins, turning red to deep reddish purple in the fall.	2–4″ (5–10 cm) × ¾–1″ (1.9–2.5 cm), elliptic to ovate in shape, with smooth edges and leaf veins that are nearly parallel to the edges. Dark green summer leaves turn red or purple in the fall.	Opposite, deeply veined on the back, up to 4″ (10 cm) × 1¼″ (3.5 cm) in size, oval with pointed tips, somewhat narrower than other dogwood leaves. Deep red or maroon in the fall.
Flowers	Four white "petals" (really bracts) up to 4″ (10 cm) across. (The real flowers are a small green inconspicuous disc in the center.)	Showy white "flowers" about 3″ (7.6 cm) wide. Actually, flowers are bracts: the true flowers are an inconspicuous disc of yellow-green florets in the center. They flower from June to early July.	Flowers bloom from May to June, and are yellowish-white.
Fruit	Fruits are bright red, oval, ¼–½″ (6.3–12 mm) long, in small tight clusters.	Bumpy pink to dull red globes about ¾–1″ (1.9–2.5 cm) around. Fruits reach upward on the ends of branches unless the branches bend.	Green to white to light blue to deep blue. Light blue berries have a metallic sheen.
Range/ Zones	USDA Zones: 5-9a	USDA Zones: 5-8	USDA Zones: 4-8
Habitats	Forest edges and dry ridges.	Woods and scrub in Sichuan; valleys and shaded slopes.	Moist, rich, slightly acidic soils such as swamps

	Cornus racemosa	Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold’	Cornus sericea ssp. sericea
Common Name	northern swamp dogwood	silver and gold red osier dogwood	red osier dogwood
Range/ Zones	USDA Zones: 4-8	USDA Zones: 3-8	USDA Zones: 3-7

Cornus description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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