Cornus

Cornus Temporal range: Late Campanian–Holocene,
Cornus kousa var. chinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Order:	Cornales
Family:	Cornaceae
Genus:	Cornus L.
Type species
Cornus mas L.
Subgenera
Afrocrania Arctocrania Cornus Cynoxylon Discocrania Kraniopsis Mesomora Sinocornus Syncarpea Yinquania
Synonyms
Chamaepericlimenum Hill

In species such as this Cornus × unalaschkensis, the tiny four-petaled flowers are clustered in a tightly packed, flattened cyme at the center of four showy white petal-like bracts.

Cornus mas

Cornus florida in spring

Cornus drummondii in flower

Mature and immature flowers of Cornus canadensis, Bonnechere Provincial Park, Ontario

Cornus canadensis fruit

Spring budding

Cornus is a genus of 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae. They are also called dogwoods or cornels. They have unique blossoms, berries, and bark. Most of the Cornus are deciduous trees or shrubs. A few of these species are alsoperennial subshrubs. Some of the species are be evergreen. Many species in this genus have small flowers that are surrounded by an involucre. In the involucre, there are petal bracts. Some species have clusters of petal-bearing flowers. These flowers are native to temperate and boreal Eurasia and North America. China, Japan, and southeast United States have many of these native species.

There are many species of Cornus. Some common ones are the common dogwood Cornus sanguinea in Eurasia. In North America, there are many flowering dogwood (Cornus florida). In the Pacific and North America, there are many dogwood Cornus nuttallii. In east Asia, there is the Kousa dogwood Cornus kousa. In Canadian and Eurasian, there are dwarf cornels (or bunchberries): Cornus canadensis and Cornus suecica.

Dogwoods can be classified many ways. It is usually divided into 1 to 9 genera or subgenera.

Cornus Media

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  Cherokee Princess dogwood in bloom in Virginia

Other websites

• Dogwood history and uses Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
• Cornus in Flora of China