Landscape Plants

Deciduous broadleaf tree, with a vigorous, dense, upright habit, to 20 ft (6 m) tall and slightly narrower width.  Leaves dark green, opposite, simple, elliptic to oval, about 10-12 cm long, margin entire, 5-6 pairs of veins; turn purple-red in fall.  Blooms heavily. The showy floral bracts (“flowers”) are usually in fours, together 8-12 cm across, they emerge white with a hint of green and mature to pink before falling.  The remaining small, sphere-like fruit is sterile.

Sun to part shade.  Best in well-drained, acid soils with sufficient organic matter. 

Hardy to USDA Zone (5) 6           A hybrid, from a cross of C. florida × C. kousa (which is designated Cornus × rutgersensis) developed by Elwin R. Orton of Rutgers University.  U.S. Plant Patent 7,204 (1990). 

Oregon State Univ. campus: northeast corner of 14th St. and Campus Way