Cornus mas
Common name: 
Corneliancherry Dogwood
Pronunciation: 
KOR-nus mas
Family: 
Cornaceae
Genus: 
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Deciduous multistemed shrub or small tree, 20-25 ft ( 6-8m) high, spreading to 15 ft (4.5 m), oval-round outline, slender stems. Leaves opposite, simple, ovate to elliptic, 5-10 cm long, 3-5 pairs of veins, dark green above. Sometimes reddish fall color, but generally poor with leaves falling off green. Flowers open in early spring (too early??) before leaves appear, yellow, in short stalked umbels (20 mm in diam.) enclosed in 4 bracts before opening, each flower 1.5 mm in width. Fruit an oblong drupe 1.6 cm long, bright cherry red, in mid-summer.
  • Sun or partial shade. Prefers rich, well-drained soil, but adaptable to different soil types. Sometimes suckers abundantly.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 4      Native to central and southern Europe and western Asia.
  • A similar species is C. officinalis (Japanese Cornel Dogwood), which, in comparison to C. mas, flowers earlier, has longer pedicels (twice as long as bracts), ripens fruit later, and its exfoliating bark may be more colorful.  Additionally, the lower leaf surface of C. officinalis reportedly has rusty patches of down in the axils of the veins.
  • Oregon State Univ. campus: Alice Biddle statue, NE of the MU
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit, spring flowering

    plant habit, spring flowering

  • plant habit, spring flowering

    plant habit, spring flowering

  • plant habit, shrub, flowering

    plant habit, shrub, flowering

  • flowering branches

    flowering branches

  • flower buds and flowers

    flower buds and flowers

  • flower clusters

    flower clusters

  • leaves, expanding

    leaves, expanding

  • developing fruit

    developing fruit

  • plant habit, fruiting

    plant habit, fruiting

  • fruiting branches

    fruiting branches

  • ripe fruit

    ripe fruit

  • fruit and seed

    fruit and seed

  • winter twigs, vegetative buds

    winter twigs, vegetative buds

  • trunk, bark

    trunk, bark