Cornus nuttallii

{{short description|Species of plant}} {{redirect|Western Dogwood|the shrub with the same name|Cornus sericea}} {{Speciesbox | name = Pacific Dogwood | image = 2338 PacificDogwood.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |last1=Stritch |first1=L. |year=2018 |title=''Cornus nuttallii'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T130048880A130048883 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T130048880A130048883.en |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref> | status2 = G5 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.159922 |title=''Cornus nuttallii'' |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref> | genus = Cornus | parent = Cornus subg. Cynoxylon | species = nuttallii | authority = Audubon ex Torr. & A.Gray | synonyms = ''Benthamidia nuttallii'' {{au|(Audubon ex Torr. & A.Gray) Moldenke}} | range_map = Cornus nuttallii range map 1.png | range_map_caption = Natural range }}

'''''Cornus nuttallii''''', the '''Pacific dogwood,'''<ref name=USDA>{{PLANTS|symbol=CONU4|taxon=Cornus nuttallii|accessdate=11 February 2014}}</ref><ref name=calflora>{{cite web|url=http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=2387|title=Cornus nuttallii|date=2014|website=Calflora|publisher=The Calflora Database|accessdate=12 February 2014}}</ref> '''western dogwood''',<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Cornus nuttallii {{!}} Landscape Plants {{!}} Oregon State University|url=https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/cornus-nuttallii|access-date=2021-05-12|website=landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu}}</ref> or '''mountain dogwood''',<ref name=calflora/> is a species of dogwood native to western North America. The tree's name used by Hul'q'umi'num'-speaking nations is '''''Kwi’txulhp'''''.<ref>{{cite report |author=Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group |date= |title=Ecosystem Guide: A Hul'q'umi'num' language guide to plants and animals of southern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Salish Sea |url=https://nlpslearns.sd68.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Hul_Qum_Ecosystem_Guide.pdf |publisher=Parks Canada |page=58 |docket= |access-date=10 September 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

== Description == left|thumb|The small flowers are in a dense cluster surrounded by large white bracts. It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, reaching {{Convert|6–23|m|ft|abbr=off}} tall, often with a canopy spread of {{Convert|6|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Its habit varies based on the level of sunlight; in full sun it will have a short trunk with a crown as wide as it is tall, while under a canopy it will have a tapered trunk with a short, slender crown.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Species: Cornus nuttallii|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/cornut/all.html|access-date=2021-05-12|website=www.fs.usda.gov}}</ref> The trunk attains {{Convert|15-30|cm|frac=2}} in diameter. The bark is reddish brown.<ref name="arno">{{Cite book |last1=Arno |first1=Stephen F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDD4DwAAQBAJ |title=Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees |last2=Hammerly |first2=Ramona P. |publisher=Mountaineers Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-68051-329-5 |edition=field guide |location=Seattle |pages=267–271 |language=en |oclc=1141235469 |orig-date=1977}}</ref>

The branches have fine hairs and the young bark is thin and smooth, becoming scale-like with ridges as it ages.<ref name=":1" />

The leaves are opposite, simple, oval, {{Convert|5-13|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=2}} long, and {{Convert|3.8-7.1|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=2}} broad. They are green with stiff, appressed hairs on top, and hairier and lighter on the bottom.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="arno" /> They turn orange to purplish in autumn.<ref name="arno" />

The flowers are individually small and inconspicuous, {{Convert|2-3|mm|in|frac=16}} across, produced in a dense, rounded, greenish-white flower head {{Convert|2|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=4}} in diameter; the 4–8 large white 'petals' are actually bracts, each bract {{Convert|4-7|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=4}} long and broad, creating the appearance of a larger flower head. The flowers commonly bloom twice per season, once in the spring and again in late summer or early fall.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

Appearing in September or October, the fruit is a compound pink-red or orange drupe about {{Convert|1-1.5|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=4}} long. They are produced in clusters containing 20–40 drupelets, each of which contains two seeds.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The fruits are unpalatable.<ref name="tktimb">{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |pages=313}}</ref>

=== Similar species === The eastern United States' ''Cornus florida'' (flowering dogwood) is similar in appearance and possibly in chemical composition. ''Cornus canadensis'' has similar blossoms but grows as a groundcover.<ref name="arno" />

== Etymology == In 1806, Meriwether Lewis noted that the species is similar in appearance to ''C. florida''.<ref name="arno" /> However, when Scottish botanist David Douglas encountered ''C. nuttalli'' on his expedition to the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s, he mistook it for ''C. florida'' and did not send seeds back to England.<ref name=":0" />

English botanist Thomas Nuttall was the first to describe the species for science while staying at Fort Vancouver in the autumn of 1834.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thomas Nuttall (U.S. National Park Service)|url=https://www.nps.gov/people/thomasnuttall.htm|access-date=2021-05-12|website=www.nps.gov|language=en}}</ref> It was named ''nuttallii'' after him by his friend John James Audubon.<ref name=":0" />

The common names comes from that of ''Cornus sanguinea'', the hard wood of which Northern Europeans used to make nails ("dags") during the medieval era.<ref name="arno" />

thumb|alt=British Columbia Dogwood in flower.|British Columbia Dogwood in flower.

== Distribution and habitat == [[File:USFWS cornus nuttallii (23463004839).jpg|thumb|Pacific Dogwood in the understory of a forest, showing its typical habit.]] It occurs from the lowlands of southern British Columbia to the mountains of southern California. There exists an inland population in central Idaho, where it is considered critically imperiled. It occurs predominantly below {{Convert|1500|m|ft|abbr=on}} in elevation.<ref name=":1" />

Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii.

It has high flood tolerance, and is common along streams with moist but well-drained soils, often on gentle slopes. Soil composition can range from clay to sandy loam, and it prefers a high humus content, moderate to high nutrient levels, and acidic soils with a pH from 5.5 to 6. It has low frost tolerance, and is usually found in low-elevation temperate or mesothermal climates.<ref name=":1" /> It is hardy to USDA zone 7.<ref name=":0" />

== Ecology ==

=== Value to animals === New sprouts are good browse for both wild and domesticated ungulates, especially after a recent fire, but the mature foliage is usually ignored by all species except slugs.<ref name=":1" />

The fruit are eaten by deer mice, pileated woodpeckers, the band-tailed pigeon,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Peattie|first=Donald Culross|title=A Natural History of Western Trees|publisher=Bonanza Books|year=1953|location=New York|page=655|authorlink=Donald C. Peattie}}</ref> and bears.<ref name="arno" />

It provides habitat and cover to small birds such as Wilson's warbler, and small mammals including the red tree vole.<ref name=":1" />

=== Diseases === Like the related ''Cornus florida'', it is very susceptible to dogwood anthracnose, a disease caused by the fungus ''Discula destructiva''. Fungal activity is greatest from May to July, although it can be active any time conditions are moist and the plant is growing. Infected leaves become blotched and drop, and defoliation can be extreme. Twigs and leaf buds are also impacted. This has killed many of the larger plants in the wild and has also restricted its use as an ornamental tree, to the point where it is considered threatening to the species in its native range.<ref name=":1" />

=== Successional status === It is present in all stages of both primary and secondary succession{{Snd}}from new colonization on glacial outwash or areas destroyed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, to late seral and even climax communities.<ref name=":1" /> It is shade tolerant but prefers sunlight in sufficiently humid conditions.<ref name="arno" />

It is adapted to a wide variety of fire regimes, with intervals ranging from just one year on dry sites, to 500 years or more in moist, riparian zones. The tree can survive low severity wildfires which are not hot enough to kill buds protected by bark. After being severely burned, ''Cornus nuttali'' typically resprouts from the root crown{{Snd}}however, the resulting shoots are so palatable to mule deer that they are at risk of being killed by over-browsing.<ref name=":1" />

== Uses == Some Plateau Indian tribes such as the Nlaka'pamux used the bark as a brown dye. Those groups also used the bark for medicinal purposes as a blood purifier, lung strengthener, stomach treatment, laxative, and emetic.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="hunn">{{cite book |last= Hunn |first= Eugene S. |title= Nch'i-Wana, "The Big River": Mid-Columbia Indians and Their Land |publisher=University of Washington Press |year= 1990 |isbn= 0-295-97119-3| page=353}}</ref>

It is mostly prized as a cultivated ornamental.<ref name="arno" />

== In culture == It has been the provincial flower of British Columbia<ref name="Symbols Act">{{cite web|url=http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/p/96380_01.htm|title=Provincial Symbols and Honours Act|publisher=Queen's Printer British Columbia|accessdate=2008-05-06|archive-date=2005-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051225110406/http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/P/96380_01.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> since 1956.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/teachers-corner/fact-sheet-british-columbia.asp|title = British Columbia (BC) - Facts, Flags and Symbols|date = 30 April 2010}}</ref> It was once protected by law in the province (in an act which also protected ''Rhododendron macrophyllum'' and ''Trillium ovatum''),<ref name="archived protection">{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020102191524/http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/D/96100_01.htm|archivedate=2002-01-02|publisher=Queen's Printer British Columbia|title=Dogwood, Rhododendron and Trillium Protection Act|url=http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/list_statreg_d.htm|accessdate=2008-05-06|url-status=dead}}</ref> but this was repealed in 2002.<ref name="repealed protection">{{cite web|url=http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/D/96100REP_01.htm|title=Dogwood, Rhododendron and Trillium Protection Act|accessdate=2008-05-06|publisher=Queen's Printer British Columbia|archive-date=2008-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928195753/http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/D/96100REP_01.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} * [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Cornus+nuttallii Jepson Flora Project: ''Cornus nuttallii''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706210757/http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Cornus+nuttallii Plants of British Columbia: ''Cornus nuttallii''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120318011631/http://www.plantmaps.com/nrm/cornus-nuttallii-pacific-dogwood-native-range-map.php Interactive Distribution Map of ''Cornus nuttallii''] * {{PFAF|Cornus nuttallii}}

{{Floral Emblems of Canada}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q220777}}

nuttallii Category:Plants described in 1840 Category:Trees of Northern America Category:Ornamental trees Category:Provincial symbols of British Columbia Category:Trees of mild maritime climate Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status