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Pacific dogwood
Cornus nuttallii
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 A small tree or shrub, up to 15 metres tall, with branches arranged in a circular
pattern around the tree.
Leaves
Opposite, oval leaves have pointed tips and a slightly toothed edge.
Pacific dogwood leaves are dark green and turn orange in fall. |
Flowers
The showy, white flowers are actually four to six modified leaves that
surround a cluster of 30 to 40 small, green flowers. Dogwoods usually flower in spring and
again in fall.
Fruit
The dark red berries are edible but bitter. |
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Bark
Smooth and grey. Where
to find Pacific dogwood
It grows on the southern coast and on Vancouver Island south of Port
Hardy. |
Habitat
Pacific dogwood grows best on deep, coarse, well-drained soils, often
underneath Douglas-fir, grand fir, and western hemlock. The fruit is part of the diet
of pigeons, quail, grosbeaks, hermit thrushes, and waxwings. Bears and beavers enjoy the
fruit and foliage, and deer eat the twigs. |
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Uses
Some aboriginal people used the wood, which is fine-grained, hard and
heavy, for bows and arrows. More recently, the Cowichan people on Vancouver Island made
knitting needles from it. The Straits Salish made a tanning agent from the bark. The
Thompson people made dyes - deep brown from the bark, black when mixed with grand fir, and
red from the roots.
The wood has been used for piano keys. Pacific dogwood varieties are attractive
ornamentals in coastal gardens. |
Notes
Pacific dogwood is susceptible to a fungus, the dogwood leaf blotch, which
disfigures leaves and causes shoots to die back. Clearing away fallen leaves and spraying
with lime sulphur in the winter reduces the chance of infection. The name dogwood most
probably comes from the Sanskrit word dag, meaning skewers.
The botanical name nuttallii is for Thomas Nuttall (1798-1859), a British-born
botanist and ornithologist. Cornus means horn and may refer to the hard wood.
The Pacific
dogwood blossom is the floral emblem of British Columbia. |
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