Common Name: DOGWOOD FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb to tree; sometimes dioecious. Leaf: generally opposite, simple, generally entire, generally deciduous, veins often arched; stipules 0. Inflorescence: cyme or raceme, generally umbel- or head-like, subtended by showy or +- non-showy bracts or open, not subtended by bracts. Flower: generally small, generally bisexual; calyx generally 4-lobed; petals [0]4[(5)], free; stamens generally as many as, alternate petals; ovary inferior, chambers 1--4, 1-ovuled, style simple, stigma lobes 0[2--4]. Fruit: drupe [berry]. Seed: generally 1--2. Genera In Family: +- 12 genera, +- 100 species: especially northern temperate (also southern tropics, subtrop); cultivated as ornamental (Cornus, Aucuba); some timber species. eFlora Treatment Author: James R. Shevock Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: DOGWOOD Leaf: generally opposite or whorled; base, tip generally tapered. Inflorescence: head-like cyme subtended by showy bracts, open cyme not subtended by bracts, or umbel subtended by non-showy bracts. Fruit: stone 1--2-chambered. Etymology: (Latin: horn, from the hard wood) Note: Divided by some into 6 or more genera. Reference: Murrell 1993 Syst Bot 18:469--495; Wahlsteen et al. 2021 J Syst Evol 59: 405--416
Common Name: AMERICAN DOGWOOD Habit: Shrub generally 1.5--4 m. Stem: branches +- red to purple, +- glabrous to minute-strigose, in age gray-green, generally glabrous. Leaf: blade generally 5--10 cm, lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, paler abaxially, veins 4--7 pairs. Inflorescence: cyme, strigose; bracts 0. Flower: petals 2--4.5 mm; style 1--3 mm. Fruit: 7--9 mm, white to cream; stone smooth or 3-ridged on faces, furrowed on sides. Note: Highly variable complex with many local forms, treated broadly here. Subspecies intergrade widely.
Cornus sericea L. subsp. sericea
NATIVE Leaf: generally +- glabrous to strigose abaxially. Flower: petals 2--3 mm; style 1--2 mm. Fruit: stone generally smooth on faces. Ecology: Generally moist habitats; Elevation: < 2800 m. Bioregional Distribution: CA-FP, GB (uncommon s CA); Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, eastern Canada, Virginia, New Mexico, northern Mexico, introduced in western Europe. Flowering Time: May--Jul Synonyms: Cornus californica C.A. Mey.; Cornus ×californica C.A. Mey.; Cornus californica var. nevadensis Jeps.; Cornus stolonifera Michx. Jepson eFlora Author: James R. Shevock Reference: Murrell 1993 Syst Bot 18:469--495; Wahlsteen et al. 2021 J Syst Evol 59: 405--416 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Cornus sericea subsp. occidentalis Next taxon: Cornus sessilis
Botanical illustration including Cornus sericea subsp. sericea
Citation for this treatment: James R. Shevock 2012, Cornus sericea subsp. sericea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=49998, accessed on December 03, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
