Dogwoods
What are they?
For those with an interest in cultivated plants, dogwoods will be most familiar as those magnificently showy trees and bushes with large white or pink flowers and which are native to North America and eastern Asia. In reality, those showy 'flowers' are actually coloured bracts that surround the true flowers and our native dogwood is far less showy, having similar flowers but without the colourful bracts. The dogwoods are woody perennials with opposite, deciduous leaves, small, four-petalled flowers in tight, many-flowered heads and the fruit a succulent berry. The family includes both trees and suckering shrubs. The latter group are best-known in the UK and often widely planted for their richly coloured, red or yellow stems that brighten up a garden during the winter months.
Where are they found?
Our native species is widespread in woodland and in hedges, usually on chalky or clay soils, but is also very widely planted throughout the region in hedging schemes. Other species are occasionally planted in wetlands or used (perhaps in error for our native species) in hedges. Some may occur on rough ground as garden throw-outs.
Identification
Dogwoods can all appear rather similar in their overall appearance and identification may require a combination of leaf detail and fruit detail. Cornelian-cherry is similar in its leaves but is clearly different to the other species in its flowers and fruits. Red-osier and White Dogwoods casn be particularly difficult to tell apart without careful checking of all the features and are commonly wrongly identified in the horticultural trade.
European Dogwood Cornus sanguinea
Native on chalky or clay soils but also widely planted in hedges throughout the region. Flowers June to July. A large, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree to 6m in height. Young stems dull, dark red and green. In recent years, cultivated stock planted as hedgerow plants has often been imported and is of the subspecies australis. This subspecies is native to Eastern Europe and can be identified by the hairs on the underside of the leaves, which lay flat against the leaf (loosely raised in our native subspecies sanguinea).
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Red-osier Dogwood Cornus sericea
Introduced from North America as a garden ornamental and occasionally planted in wet woods on larger estates for pheasant cover. Occasionally recorded where planted in the wider countryside or as a garden escape, spreading by means of suckering growths from creeping rhizomes. Flowers May to June. A multi-stemmed shrub to 3m in height, spreading to form extensive, suckering thickets. Young stems shiny red (or bright yellow in variety flaviramea); berries bright white, seeds wider than long, with a broadly rounded, or flattened, base.
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at base) |
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White Dogwood Cornus alba
Introduced from Asia as a garden ornamental. Occasionally recorded where planted in the wider countryside or as a garden escape, but far less common than Red-osier Dogwood. Flowers May to June. A multi-stemmed shrub to 3m in height, typically not spreading as extensively as Red-osier Dogwood and with leaves often more broadly ovate (though this is variable). Young stems shiny red; berries white and usually with a bluish wash, seeds longer than wide, with a pointed base.
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Cornelian-cherry Cornus mas
Introduced from continental Europe as a garden ornamental and perhaps originally for its edible fruits. Occasionally recorded where planted in the wider countryside in hedgerows and churchyards. Flowers December to March. A large shrub or small tree to 4m in height. Flowers appear on the bare stems in winter. Young stems dull, dark red and green. Leaves are more leathery and more glossy than those of other dogwoods.
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