Cornus stolonifera
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Cornus stolonifera' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Red Osier Dogwood
Synonyms
- Cornus alba of many authors, not L.
- Swida stolonifera (Michx.) Rydb.
- Thelycrania stolonifera (Michx.) Pojark.
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Cornus alba
- Cornus alternifolia
- Cornus amomum
- Cornus asperifolia
- Cornus australis
- Cornus baileyi
- Cornus capitata
- Cornus chinensis
- Cornus controversa
- Cornus × dunbarii
- Cornus elliptica
- Cornus florida
- Cornus glabrata
- Cornus hemsleyi
- Cornus hessei
- Cornus hongkongensis
- Cornus × horseyi
- Cornus kousa
- Cornus macrophylla
- Cornus mas
- Cornus monbeigii
- Cornus nuttallii
- Cornus occidentalis
- Cornus paucinervis
- Cornus racemosa
- Cornus rugosa
- Cornus sanguinea
- Cornus schindleri
- Cornus sessilis
- Cornus wilsoniana
A vigorous deciduous shrub up to 8 ft high, suckering freely, and spreading by underground stems; bark of young shoots dark purplish red, glabrous. Leaves ovate, oval or oval-lanceolate, with long, tapered points; 2 to 5 in. long, 1 to 21⁄2 in. wide; upper surface dark green, lower one glaucous, both with flattened hairs; veins in about five pairs; stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Flowers dull white, small, in cymes 1 to 2 in. across. Fruit white, globose, 1⁄5 in. across.
Native of N. America, reaching across the continent. It is closely allied to the Eurosiberian species C. alba and by some authors regarded as a subspecies of it. It differs in its stoloniferous habit, more abruptly pointed leaves, and in the stones of the fruits, which are as broad as high, and rounded at the base.
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
cv. ‘Flaviramea’. – Some plants distributed under this name are the green-stemmed ‘Nitida’ (R. Lancaster, The Garden (Journ. R.H.S.) Vol. 105 (1980), p. 114).
† cv. ‘Kelseyi’. – With the stoloniferous habit of the species, but with the stems much branched and only 2ft high. Suitable for ground-cover, though not in a choice position.
† cv. ‘Nitida’. – Young stems green during the first winter. Described from a cultivated plant, which also differed from the typical state in its larger, more glossy leaves (C. alba var. nitida Koehne; C. stolonifera var. nitida (Koehne) Schneid).