Pacific Dogwood

Cornus nuttallii, commonly known as the Pacific Dogwood, Western Dogwood, Western Flowering Dogwood, or Mountain Dogwood, grows abundantly at Dunsmuir Botanical gardens. "Cornus" means horn and apparently refers to the hard wood of the tree. "Nuttallii" is taken from the name of British born botanist and ornithologist, Thomas Nuttall.

The tree thrives in deep, coarse, moist but well drained soil and can grow from 6 to 18 metres high. It is often found beneath Douglas fir, grand fir and western hemlock trees. It flowers profusely in April and May with large creamy white blossoms. The beautiful blooms are actually four to six bracts around 30 to 40 small green flowers which are compacted into a "button". The tree will also sometimes flower a second time in the fall.

The leaves are opposite and oval with pointed tips and slightly toothed edges and are beautiful in autumn when they turn a brilliant orange-red.

The bark is smooth and grey colored and the wood is fine grained, hard and heavy. Traditionally the wood was used for making bows and arrows by the native people and the bark was used as a tanning agent. The branches were used to make slingshots.

After the flowers fade the tree produces dark red berries which are edible but taste very bitter. The berries stay on the tree after the leaves have fallen and are an important source of food for birds and animals. They form part of the diet of pigeons, quail, grosbeaks, hermit thrush, flickers and waxwings. Bears and beavers enjoy the fruit and leaves and deer eat the twigs.

Folklore suggests waiting until after the dogwood tree has flowered before setting out cold sensitive plants. The reason is a cold spell known as "Dogwood Winter". Dogwood Winter usually occurs after a Spring warm spell and brings with it several days of cold weather with heavy frost. It occurs during May and coincides with the flowering of the dogwood tree.