Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Rough-leaf dogwood

ROUGH-LEAF DOGWOOD

File Size: 94 KB

Cornus drummondii C.A. Mey.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Height: 3-20 feet

Family: Cornaceae - Dogwood Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Trunks:

Erect, often forming clumps; roots shallow, spreading.

Twigs:

Young twigs rough, often reddish brown; mature branches grayish brown;

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, slender stalked, broadly ovate to lanceolate, 2.5 to 4.5 inches long, 1 to 3.5 inches wide, firm, rough above, whitish-woolly below; margins entire; tips tapering to points.

Flowers:

In open, nearly flat-topped cymes, 1.5 to 3 inches across, terminal on new branches. Flowers white to cream colored, densely appressed-hairy; sepals 4, whitish; petals 4, oblong-lanceolate, spreading or rolling backward; stamens 4, filaments white, anthers yellow; style 1, cream to pale green.

Fruit:

Nearly spherical, about 1/5 inch in diameter, white, 1-seeded, in upright clusters; ripen late summer to early fall.

Habitat:

Rocky hillsides, woodland edges, thickets, and stream banks.

Distribution:

East 3/4 of Kansas.

Uses:

Rough-leaf dogwood provides cover for wildlife and the fruits are eaten by many species of birds.

Comments:

The scientific name honors Thomas Drummond, a Scottish botanist who lived from 1780-1835. Rough-leaf dogwood does well in drought conditions.

Rough-leaf dogwood