Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - Richmond, Virginia, USA

Common name: dogwood

Family: Cornaceae (dogwood)

Distribution: East Asia, China

Life form: Semi-evergreen Tree

Description: Cornus elliptica is an evergreen to semi-evergreen dogwood that is native to China. It was introduced to the U. S. in 1980 by Ted R. Dudley of the U. S. National Arboretum. It is a small flowering tree that grows 15-20’ tall. It features thick, glossy, bright green leaves (to 3” long) that turn purplish (sometimes with inward-curling margins) in winter. Leaves drop off in spring as the new growth appears. The showy parts of the dogwood “flower” are the four, pointed, petal-like, white bracts (1.5-2” across) that surround a center cluster of insignificant, yellowish-green, true flowers. The bracts are narrow and, as in the case of the Kousa dogwood, distinctively pointed. Unlike most other dogwoods, this tree blooms in early summer. Flowers are followed by berry-like fruits (to 1” diameter) which mature to red. Fruits are technically edible, but are usually left for the birds. Cornus elliptica was originally designated as C. kousa var. angustata. It has also been called Cornus capitata var. angustata and Cornu