Red-Osier Dogwood
Red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera sp.) is a deciduous shrub that grows from 1 to 4 m high, and it can extend to 4-5m wide.
- Many alternate stems grow vertically and horizontally.
- Younger stems can be bright red in the fall and winter.
- Leaves are opposite, oval, and pointed each with 7 radial veins.
- Terminal clusters of white flowers appear late spring.
- All photos by the author. Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.
- Small light-colored berry-like fruits form after flowering.
- Berries are an important food for birds, squirrels, and other animals.
- Flat, stony seeds are ready for dispersal in late summer.
- The leaves turn bright red in the fall.
- Red-ossier dogwood is an important browsing food for ungulates.
- The shrub is abundant in mesic zones near creeks, lakes, marshes, and wet forest areas.
- It is an easy shrub to propagate from cuttings or suckers.
- First Nations people had many traditional uses for parts of the shrub.
- It is also called redtwig dogwood, redbrush, American dogwood, and western dogwood.