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Broadleaf, deciduous, shrub, spreading, loosely branched, 3-20! ft (1-6 m) tall, branches slender, red to purple in the sun, green in the shade. Leaves simple, opposite, 2-6 inches (5-15 cm) long, margins entire to wavey, tip and base both acute; upper surface wrinkled because of sunken veins, dark green, pale green and generally below, leaves turn bright red in fall. Flowers small, white, in flat-topped, terminal clusters. Fruit white or ivory, globose, small, ¼ inch (6 mm), single seeded.
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Sun to part shade. Best in moist well-drained soil, but it adapts to dry soils in late summer. Spreads rapidly by underground stolons or by branches in contact with the ground which root freely.
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Hardy to USDA Zone 5 Native range is restricted to the western states from Alaska to California and east into Montana and Idaho.
- Taxonomy: In the past few years there have been several taxonomic changes in the genus Cornus, especially regarding the deciduous shrubs. Here I avoid the reasons for the changes and provide current (2025) classifications according to the World Flora Online (WFO) (https://www.worldfloraonline.org/).
- Cornus alba (accepted name), some of the plants now considered synonyms with this species; C. sibirica, C. tartarica (see WFO for full listings).
- Cornus sericea (accepted name), synonyms, C. sericea subsp. sericea, C. stolonifera, C. stolonifera var. californica
- Cornus sanguinea and Cornus sanguinea subsp. sanguinea (accepted names)
- Cornus torreyi (accepted name), synonyms, C. occidentalis, Cornus sericea subsp. occidentalis
- Corvallis: Avery Park, eastside of the Marys RIver bridge (15th St.) the large plants can be seen from the bridge
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plant habit, flowering
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flower cluster and leaves
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leaves
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leaves, underside
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young fruit cluster and leaves
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mature fruit cluster and leaves
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leaves and fruit, fall
