FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
In all dogwoods, white “threads” visible when leaf is broken and pulled apart. Look on leaf undersides for brownish appressed hairs, especially on veins.
Synonym(s): Swida amomum
Description: Deciduous shrub reaching up to 5 m.
Leaves: Opposite, entire, ovate or elliptic shaped leaves with typical dogwood venation and smooth margins. Leaves up to 10 cm long and 7 cm wide. Brownish appressed hairs on undersurface of leaves, especially on veins.
Flowers/Fruit: Flat-topped cyme, which produce blue drupes (berry-like fruits). Blooms May/June; fruits August/September.
Habit and Range: Marshes, swamp forests, along rivers and streams mainly in the Piedmont and Mountains. Occasionally in the Coastal Plain.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Cephalanthus occidentalis (common buttonbush) also has opposite entire leaves, but they lack hairs beneath, and twigs have elongated lenticels. Leaves of Cornus amomum can be similar to Viburnum nudum (possumhaw viburnum), which has similar fruits in clusters of bluish berries, but no threads visible when leaf is broken and pulled apart. Pith of second year growth in Cornus amomum (silky dogwood) is brown, whereas the pith is white in the more coastal Cornus stricta (swamp dogwood), which is also called Swida foemina and Cornus foemina.
Click here to view Cephalanthus occidentalis.
Click here to view Viburnum nudum.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
