British Native Trees
and Shrubs

Dogwood Cornus sanguinea (Cornaceae)

With its tall, slender, crimson-tinted stems, dogwood lends a vivid splash of colour to the late season and winter scene. Growing up to 5 m in height, the deciduous shrub has opposite, ovate, hairy, smooth edged and short-stalked leaves, 4-8 cm long, with three or four pairs of curing veins running from base to tip. They turn from green to purplish-red before falling in October. Flat-topped clusters of small, creamy-white flowers appear in June and July, each with four petals and minute sepals. The black, pea-sized fruits which ripen in September each contain two stones.

Dogwood occurs in hedgerows, scrub and on woodland margins on calcareous soils throughout lowland England north as far as Durham and south Cumbria.

It grows fairly quickly and makes a very useful hedging plant or it can be planted at the back of a large border or fringing a pond where its winter colour will have maximum impact. The shoots will remain dark red throughout the winter if the plant is trimmed each year. It grows in sun or semi-shade and tolerates a wide range of soils including those that are cold and wet. Its only disadvantage in gardens is that it suckers readily and may spread into open ground unless checked. But this also makes for easy propagation by taking these suckers and growing them on. A better, though less easy, way is to gather ripe berries in autumn, stratify them until early spring and then sow them thickly in nursery beds (only 40% germinate) before planting out in two to three years.

The flowers have a strong smell, unpleasant to humans but attractive to many pollinating insects. The young leaves provide food for green hairstreak and holly blue caterpillars, while the fruits are eaten, and the seeds spread, by birds.

Page last updated - January 10, 2002  

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