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alaskan bunchberry, western bunchberry, western cordilleran bunchberry

cornouiller à grappes, gray dogwood, northern swamp dogwood, panicle dogwood

Habit Shrubs, to 5 m, flowering at 0.7 m; rhizomes present.
Stems

erect, green, 6–22 cm, appressed-hairy;

nodes 4–6, internodes progressively longer distally;

branches only at distalmost node, much shorter than distal internodes so stems appear unbranched.

solitary, 2–10 dm apart;

bark gray, brittle, verrucose, frequently forming small plates;

branchlets pinkish brown, turning green-maroon, and later gray-maroon, 2 proximal internodes densely pubescent, distal internodes sparsely appressed-hairy;

lenticels pale lenticular spots on new growth, uniformly scattered, especially on the distal internodes, protruding and extruding corky tissue on 2d year branches;

pith white in 1st year branches, brown in older branches.

Leaves

at proximal 2–4 nodes nonchlorophyllous, opposite, ± scalelike, caducous (rarely chlorophyllous at 3d node from apex but much smaller than more distal leaves), at 2d node from apex nonchlorophyllous proximally, chlorophyllous distally, opposite, well developed, persistent, at distalmost node chlorophyllous, appearing to be in whorl of 6, well developed, persistent;

distalmost leaves much bigger than those at 2 more proximal nodes;

petiole 0–3.4 mm;

blade ovate to elliptic, 3.5–8 × 0.9–4 cm, apex acute or short acuminate, abaxial surface pale green, hairs sparsely appressed-hairy, adaxial surface green, appressed-hairy;

secondary veins 3 per side, all arising from proximal 1/2.

petiole 2–8 mm;

blade lanceolate to ovate, 1.5–8 × 0.5–4 cm, base cuneate, apex acuminate to obtuse, abaxial surface pale green, adaxial surface green, turning maroon in full sun, both surfaces with hairs appressed, white to ferruginous;

secondary veins 3–4(–5 on some sucker shoots) per side, evenly spaced.

Inflorescences

20–40-flowered;

peduncle 13–30 mm;

primary branches 0–2 mm;

bracts greenish white or white, often red-tipped, unequal, 2 ovate, 21–30 × 12–13 mm, 2 suborbiculate, 17–1.9 × 13–16 mm, apex acuminate.

usually elongate, sometimes convex or pyramidal, 2.5–5 cm diam., peduncle 20–40 mm;

branches and pedicels yellow-green, turning bright red.

Pedicels

0.4–1.6 mm, sparsely appressed-hairy or glabrous.

Flowers

hypanthium cream to mottled purple, 1.2–2 mm, densely appressed-hairy;

sepals mottled purple and cream, 0.1–0.4 mm, apex rounded or acute, thick, sparsely hairy on margin, densely glandular;

petals cream proximally, purple distally, 1.5–1.8 mm, apical awn 0.4–0.6 mm;

nectary dark purple or black.

hypanthium appressed-hairy;

sepals 0.2–0.5 mm;

petals white, 2.3–3 mm.

Drupes

10–20 per inflorescence, red, globose, 6–8 mm;

stone globose or subglobose, 2.7–3.4 × 2.1–3.4 mm, longitudinally grooved, apex slightly pointed.

usually white, occasionally pale blue, oblate-ellipsoid, laterally compressed, 4–8 mm diam.;

stone oblate-ellipsoid, 3–6.5 mm diam., smooth, apex rounded to slightly pointed.

2n

= 44.

= 22.

Cornus unalaschkensis

Cornus racemosa

Phenology Flowering May–Aug; fruiting Aug–Oct. Flowering May–Jul; fruiting Aug–Oct.
Habitat Maritime copse or heath, maritime coniferous forests and bog woodlands, moist broadleaf or coniferous forests. Fields, meadows, roadsides, fencerows, swamp margins.
Elevation 0–3000 m. (0–9800 ft.) 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; OR; WA; AB; BC; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; DC; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SD; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cornus racemosa, much like C. foemina and C. obliqua, has a coronulate or minutely papillate abaxial leaf surface, visible under high magnification. Cornus gracilis may be a hybrid between C. racemosa and C. foemina. Hybrids between C. obliqua and C. racemosa and C. rugosa are discussed under those species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 448. FNA vol. 12, p. 456.
Parent taxa Cornaceae > Cornus > subg. Arctocrania Cornaceae > Cornus > subg. Thelycrania
Sibling taxa
C. alternifolia, C. amomum, C. asperifolia, C. canadensis, C. drummondii, C. florida, C. foemina, C. glabrata, C. kousa, C. mas, C. nuttallii, C. obliqua, C. occidentalis, C. racemosa, C. rugosa, C. sanguinea, C. sericea, C. sessilis, C. suecica
C. alternifolia, C. amomum, C. asperifolia, C. canadensis, C. drummondii, C. florida, C. foemina, C. glabrata, C. kousa, C. mas, C. nuttallii, C. obliqua, C. occidentalis, C. rugosa, C. sanguinea, C. sericea, C. sessilis, C. suecica, C. unalaschkensis
Synonyms Arctocrania unalaschkensis, Chamaepericlymenum unalaschkense, Cornella unalaschkensis, Swida unalaschkensis C. albida, C. foemina subsp. racemosa, C. gracilis, C. paniculata, C. paniculata var. albida, C. paniculata var. radiata, Swida candidissima, S. racemosa
Name authority Ledebour: Fl. Ross. 2: 378. (1844) Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 2: 116. (1786)
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