Red-osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
In a previous post I showed how to ID a dogwood down to its genus. I posted a profile of gray dogwood, perhaps the blandest flavor of dogwood, and now it’s time for the most delicious of dogwoods, red-osier.
QUICK WINTER ID + NOTES: Red-osier dogwood in so many ways wants to be a willow. It’s followed the willows down to the river banks, spreads asexually forming dense shrub thickets, and has exceptionally brilliant colors in its twigs. Even it’s name references willows: “Osier” is French for basket willow. In winter, it is one of the most immediately recognizable woody plants, with its fire-engine red stems that sprout up from open wet meadows in tightly bunched clusters.
It is most easily confused with silky dogwood, which often grows near red-osiers. Here’s a quick comparison chart for the twigs in winter
| Silky Dogwood | Red-osier Dogwood |
|---|---|
|
|
Red-osier dogwood terminal and lateral buds on left, silky dogwood on the right
Identifying Characteristics
| HABITAT | Stream banks, old beaver meadows, wetlands |
| MATURE BARK | Red, smooth with some papery rough quality, but generally still similar to twigs (unlike with silky dogwood) |
| TWIGS | Thicker than silky dogwood, bright red. Occasionally with small black spots (fungal disease?) |
| PITH | White |
| BUDS | Densely pubescent. Hairs black at base, brown in middle and white at tips. Long stalked. Stalk of bud is red and tips are either brown or black. Lateral buds small and typically very dark |
| FLOWERS | Small white flowers in dense clusters |
| FRUITS | White (occasionally faintly blue) fruits with small black dots; similar to doll’s eyes |
| SIMILAR SPECIES | Very similar to silky dogwood. But red-osier dogwood has larger & darker buds, stouter twigs, less glabrous to lightly pubescent twigs, and its mature bark is smooth and red. |
Research
- Winter burning is not effective in controlling red-osier dogwood abundance in wetlands. Because I couldn’t access the whole I article, it was pretty unclear why they wanted to in the first place (link)
- Sugar and starch concentrations vary seasonally (link)
- Red-osier dogwood is an non-native invasive in Ireland, outcompeting the native C. sanguinea (link)
- Red-osier dogwood is highly intolerant of road salt. This article gives a list of rankings of various species: link
- Growth form plasticity in part accounts for its ability to form dense thickets in open areas but not in wooded environments (link)
- Red-osier dogwood seems to be a common experimental species for looking at bud burst and winter dormancy
Gallery
Click images for full size photos
