Cornus × elwinortonii
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Hugh and Judy Johnson
Credits
Martin Deasy, Dan Crowley, Jack Aldridge & Răzvan Chişu (2026)
Recommended citation
Deasy, M., Crowley, D., Aldridge, J. & Chişu, R. (2026), 'Cornus × elwinortonii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Other taxa in genus
- Cornus alba
- Cornus alternifolia
- Cornus amomum
- Cornus × arnoldiana
- Cornus asperifolia
- Cornus bretschneideri
- Cornus californica
- Cornus canadensis
- Cornus capitata
- Cornus chinensis
- Cornus controversa
- Cornus coreana
- Cornus darvasica
- Cornus disciflora
- Cornus drummondii
- Cornus × dunbarii
- Cornus elliptica
- Cornus excelsa
- Cornus eydeana
- Cornus florida
- Cornus florida Cultivars A-G
- Cornus florida Cultivars H-M
- Cornus florida Cultivars N-R
- Cornus florida Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus foemina
- Cornus glabrata
- Cornus × haddenii
- Cornus hemsleyi
- Cornus hongkongensis
- Cornus hongkongensis hybrids
- Cornus × horseyi
- Cornus iberica
- Cornus kousa
- Cornus kousa Cultivars A-D
- Cornus kousa Cultivars E-I
- Cornus kousa Cultivars J-L
- Cornus kousa Cultivars M-R
- Cornus kousa Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus macrophylla
- Cornus mas
- Cornus mas Cultivars A-G
- Cornus mas Cultivars H-M
- Cornus mas Cultivars N-R
- Cornus mas Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus 'Mountain Moon'
- Cornus multinervosa
- Cornus nuttallii
- Cornus obliqua
- Cornus oblonga
- Cornus officinalis
- Cornus poliophylla
- Cornus 'Pumila'
- Cornus quinquenervis
- Cornus racemosa
- Cornus rugosa
- Cornus × rutgersensis
- Cornus sanguinea
- Cornus scabrida
- Cornus sericea
- Cornus sessilis
- Cornus × slavinii
- Cornus suecica
- Cornus sunhangii
- Cornus × transamericana
- Cornus unalaschkensis
- Cornus walteri
- Cornus wardiana
- Cornus wilsoniana
Deciduous tree to 10 m. Bark rough, exfoliating at base. Branchlets becoming lenticillate. Leaves 10.3–15.3 × 5.9–9.1 cm, chartaceous, elliptic, obovate to ovate, upper surface green, lower surface paler, pubescent with whitish trichomes, sometimes tufts of long brown trichomes in vein axils, five (to six) secondary veins on each side of the midvein, margins entire, sometimes slightly revolute, apex acute. Inflorescence capitate, globose, 55–80-flowered, peduncles 1.5–8 cm long; bracts four (to six), petal-like, white or pink, lanceolate to ovate, 5–8 cm long, 3.5–7.0 cm wide, apex acuminate to cuspidate. Flowers 4-merous. Fruits many drupes tightly held together, or a compound fruit composed of several 1-seeded drupelets. Flowering May to June, fruiting September to October. (Mattera, Molnar & Struwe 2015).
Habitat In cultivation only.
USDA Hardiness Zone 6-9
RHS Hardiness Rating H5
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Following the success of the Stellar® series hybrids between Cornus florida and C. kousa (see Cornus × rutgersensis), Elwin Orton turned his attention to the other American large-bracted dogwood, C. nuttallii, the Pacific Dogwood. This species, prized for its tree-like habit and especially large ornamental bracts has proved to be even more challenging to cultivate than C. florida, adding drought- and cold-sensitivity to the list of complaints it shares with its East Coast relative (notably, susceptibility to Dogwood Borer, anthracnose and mildew). Hybridization with the East Asian Cornus kousa, which had been shown to be largely tolerant of these problems, appeared an obvious strategy to address these problems, and during the 1970 and 1980s Orton undertook a series of controlled crosses between the two species at Rutgers State University, New Jersey. These crosses yielded hundreds of hybrid seedlings, from which some were selected out, grown on and then backcrossed with C. kousa, a slow and painstaking process (Molnar & Capik 2013).
Among the results were some of the most impressive flowering dogwoods yet produced. After more than twenty years of observation, two selections – ‘KN30–8’ Venus® and ‘KN4–43’ Starlight® – were patented and marketed as the Jersey Star® Series (US 20050138707 P1; US 20050138706). Of these, ‘KN30–8’ Venus® is the more widely grown on both sides of the Atlantic, on account of its numerous, exceptionally large involucres (exceeding 15 cm across), by far the largest in the genus (Dirr & Warren 2019). However, ‘KN4–43’ Starlight® is equally deserving of garden room, not least for its exceptional colour in autumn (Aldridge 2024). Both selections form reasonably small, densely-branched spreading trees, more vigorous and tree-like in habit than straight C. kousa. The hybrids lack some of the elegance and poise of their Asian parent – the broad bracts are somewhat limp in bearing in comparison with those of C. kousa, a consequence of their size – but from the perspective of sheer ornamental effect, autumnal foliage and garden presence, they are unparalled. The hybrid name Cornus × elwinortonii has been published to cover all crosses of C. nuttallii and C. kousa (Mattera, Molnar & Struwe 2015), the epithet honouring the celebrated and prolific breeder, who died in 2025.
Propagation is by grafting, usually onto seedling Cornus kousa rootstocks, although Brian Humphrey also reports similar success using C. florida for ‘KN30–8’ Venus® – interestingly, these have produced plants with a more upright habit than those grafted onto C. kousa, though it remains to be seen whether these differences will remain detectable over time (Humphrey 2019). Pruning (where necessary) should be undertaken immediately after flowering (mid-June) to allow time for the initiation of new reproductive buds for the subsequent season (Eberts 2007).
'KN144-2'
Synonyms / alternative names
Cornus Rosy Teacups™
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6a
Acuminate pink bracts, more intensely pigmented at the margins, the cup-shaped involucre measuring approx. 9 cm across. Leaves green, turning red in autumn. Forms a densely branched tree to 7 m tall and 7 m wide. Floriferous, hardy to –23°C and with good disease resistance (Frett 2018; Rutgers 2020). Dirr & Warren (2019) are slightly cooler in their assessment, observing that plants proved less floriferous in trials in Oregon, and appear prone to powdery mildew.
‘KN144–2’ is an advanced generation hybrid with complex parentage involving three backcrosses (including Cornus kousa ‘Rosea’ and ‘Rosabella’), explaining why this cultivar was introduced much later than the other Rutgers C. × elwinortonii hybrids, the patent filed in 2013 (US 20140283242 P1). The presentation of the inflorescences is rather unusual, the breeder Elwin Orton’s description worth quoting in full: ‘the flower heads are held erect on the rapidly elongating peduncles in the spring at nearly 90 degrees. When the telescoped vegetative bracts that protected the over-wintering flower buds have fallen, the rapidly growing peduncles elongate upward and the rapidly growing narrow pink-red floral bracts which are lightly attached at their apex enlarge upward until, with further growth, the floral bracts expand at an increased angle and look like butterflies perched on the vertical peduncles’ (US 20140283242 P1).
'KN30–8'
Synonyms / alternative names
Cornus Venus™
Awards
Grower of the Year Award 2009, UK. Best novelty of the year Plantarium 2007, Holland and IPM 2008 Essen, Germany.
RHS Hardiness Rating: H5
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6a
One of the Rutgers Jersey Star® Series, considered by many as one of the most spectacular flowering dogwood cultivars ever produced, with enormous white involucres (c. 15 cm across) tending to pale pink. At the height of flowering trees may be almost entirely covered in an expanse of white, though the individual bracts are rather lax – the effect is impressive, rather than elegant. The glossy green leaves colour well in autumn. ‘KN30–8’ is a backcross resulting from the pollination of an F1 Cornus × elwinortonii seed parent (Cornus kousa subsp. chinensis × C. nuttallii ‘Goldspot’) with C. kousa ‘Rosea’, the cross made in June 1983. It forms a small, vigorous tree (>5 m tall × 7 m wide in 20 years), densely branching from low on the trunk. Disease resistance and drought tolerance are reported to be good. (US 20050138707 P1; Rutgers 2020; Cappiello & Shadow 2005; Dirr & Warren 2019).
'KN4–43'
Synonyms / alternative names
Cornus × elwinortonii Starlight™
Creamy-white, somewhat overlapping bracts with a green tinge, the involucres up to 12.5 cm across. Less well known than ‘KN30–8’, this is actually the oldest hybrid in the Rutgers Jersey Star® Series, in this case a controlled cross between Cornus kousa ‘Simpson No 1’ (seed parent) and Cornus nuttallii ‘Goldspot’ made in 1973. This vigorous cultivar flowers profusely about a week earlier than Venus™, and shows extremely good disease resistance and drought tolerance. Forms a tree to 9 m tall × 6 m wide after 30 years. (US 20050138706; Cappiello & Shadow 2005; Rutgers 2020).
'Rutstar'
Synonyms / alternative names
Cornus × elwinortonii Stellar Nova
Large, brilliant white bracts borne in profusion against attractive dark-green foliage; resistant to mildew. An advanced generation hybrid from a 2008 open-pollination (by unknown male parent) of a white-bracted dogwood of complex parentage that includes C. kousa ‘Rosea’ and an early Orton C. × elwinortonii hybrid (C. kousa subsp. chinensis × C. nuttallii ‘Goldspot’) (US PP37068 P2).