Cornus schindleri Wangerin

Shrub or tree to 10 m. Bark brown. Branchlets four-angled, densely covered with grey or brown hairs, rarely glabrous; older branches reddish or purplish brown, glabrous with white lenticels. Leaf buds exposed, covered with brown pubescence; floral buds pubescent. Leaves deciduous, 4–15 × 2.5–6.5 cm, papery, elliptic to ovate, upper surface dark green with sparse trichomes, lower surface pale green or greyish green, brown-white curling trichomes on veins or on the entire leaf surface, six to eight (to nine) secondary veins on each side of the midvein, margins entire or crenulate, apex acuminate; petiole 1–3 cm long, covered in dense brown pubescence. Inflorescence terminal, corymbose cymes, 5–10 cm diameter, densely coated in yellow, brown or rarely, red curly trichomes, composed of numerous flowers; floral bracts minute and caducous. Flowers hermaphrodite, white, with petals to 0.4 cm long. Fruit a reddish or purplish black drupe, 0.4–0.6 cm diameter; stones eight-ribbed. Flowering May to July, fruiting August to October (China). Gardener 1979, Xiang & Boufford 2005. Distribution CHINA: Guizhou, southern and western Sichuan, southeastern Xizang, northern Yunnan. Habitat Forest and thickets on hillsides and in valleys, between 1100 and 3200 m asl. USDA Hardiness Zone 8–9. Conservation status Not evaluated. Cross-references B706 (as C. monbeigii), S185 (as C. poliophylla; now C. schindleri subsp. poliophylla (C.K. Schneid. & Wangerin) Q.Y. Xiang).