Cornus alternifolia, alternateleaf dogwood
Coladonato, Milo. 1994. Cornus alternifolia, alternateleaf dogwood. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/coralt
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| CORALT | alternateleaf dogwood | Cornus alternifolia | Life Form: Plants/Shrub, Plants/Tree Kingdom: Plantae Class: Dicot Order: Cornales Family: Cornaceae Genus: Cornus | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The scientific name for alternateleaf dogwood is Cornus alternifolia L.f. (Cornaceae) [13]. There are no recognized infrataxa. Alternateleaf dogwood hybridizes with red-osier dogwood (C. sericea) [13].
Synonyms
- No entry
Other Common Names
alternate-leaved dogwood
General Distribution
Distribution of alternateleaf dogwood.
Alternateleaf dogwood occurs from Newfoundland through the New England States to the Florida Panhandle. It extends west to the northern shores of Lake Superior and eastern Minnesota and south through the Midwest States to Arkansas and Mississippi [6,21,27].
States and Provinces
- United States: AL AR CT DE FL GA IL IN IA KY ME MD MA MI MN MS MO NH NJ NY NC OH PA RI SC TN VT VA WV WI
- Canada: MB NB NF ON PQ NS
Site Characteristics
Alternateleaf dogwood grows best on well-drained deep soils. It is found in moist woodlands, along forest margins, on stream and swamp borders, and near deep canyon bottoms [1,16,21].
Plant Communities
Alternateleaf dogwood is an understory dominant in the northeastern United States and in the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) forest of the Great Lakes region [8,16,18].
Common associates of alternateleaf dogwood include chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), American hazel (Corylus americana), hazelnut (C. cornuta), mountain maple (Acer spicatum), striped maple (A. pennsylvanicum), black cherry (Prunus serotina), serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis), mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia), huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.), and dogwoods (Cornus spp.) [2,18,21].
Botanical Description
Alternateleaf dogwood flowers, Avery County, North Carolina. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Alternateleaf dogwood is a large shrub or small tree that may reach 25 to 30 feet (7.5-9 m) in height [5,14,25]. The trunk forks near the ground into several branches that spread horizontally in layers. The bark is thin. The alternate leaves occur mainly at the end of the twigs. The fruit is a drupe [10,17,21,31].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Phanerophyte
Seasonal Development
Alternateleaf dogwood flowers from May to July. The fruit ripens from July through September [4,20].
Regeneration Processes
Alternateleaf dogwood, Oconee County, South Carolina. (CC0 1.0)
The dogwood species reproduce by layering, sprouting from the root crown, and by seed [21,30]. The seed is dispersed by gravity and animals. Germination is delayed due to embryo dormancy [21].
Alternateleaf dogwood is vegetatively propagated [21].
Successional Status
Facultative Seral Species
Alternateleaf dogwood is shade-tolerant [9,20]. It is a dominant understory species in mature forest in New England, and a late-successional understory shrub in the aspen (Populus spp.) and sugar maple forests of Michigan [21,26].
Alternateleaf dogwood also occurs in younger tree stands. It was a dominant shrub species in a 49-year-old aspen stand and an 18-year-old aspen stand in northern Minnesota [32]. Alternateleaf dogwood had a density of 54 stems per hectare in a 20- to 30-year-old burn in North Carolina [36]. Alternateleaf dogwood occurs in both young (age <41 years) and old (age >40 years) oak (Quercus spp.) clearcuts in southwestern Wisconsin [33].
Immediate Fire Effects
Fires probably top-kills alternateleaf dogwood.
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- Tall shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
- Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
Fire Adaptations
Fire survival and postfire regeneration strategies for alternateleaf dogwood are not well documented in the literature. If the roots or stems survive fire, it may reproduce vegetatively. Alternateleaf dogwood may colonize fire disturbed sites with animal-dispersed seed [26].
Plant Response to Fire
No specific information is available on fire response of alternateleaf dogwood. Since it sprouts from the root crown, it probably does so after top-kill by fire.
Perala [23] reported that alternateleaf dogwood was "encouraged" by prescribed fire in an aspen-mixed hardwood forest in north-central Minnesota, but no details were given.
Fire Regimes
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name on the Advanced Search page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
No entry.
Federal Status
No special status.
Other Status
No entry.
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
At least 11 species of birds including ruffed grouse eat alternateleaf dogwood. Black bear also eat the fruit. The leaves and stems are eaten by white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, and beavers [7,15,22,30].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
No entry.
Cover Value
Alternateleaf dogwood provides cover for many small birds and animals [21].
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
No entry.
Other Uses
No entry.
Other Management Considerations
No entry.
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES10 White - red - jack pine
- FRES11 Spruce - fir
- FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
- FRES14 Oak - pine
- FRES15 Oak - hickory
- FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
- FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
- FRES19 Aspen - birch
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- No entry
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K093 Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
- K095 Great Lakes pine forest
- K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
- K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
- K100 Oak - hickory forest
- K101 Elm - ash forest
- K102 Beech - maple forest
- K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
- K104 Appalachian oak forest
- K106 Northern hardwoods
- K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
- K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
- K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
- K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
- K112 Southern mixed forest
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 1 Jack pine
- 5 Balsam fir
- 16 Aspen
- 17 Pin cherry
- 21 Eastern white pine
- 23 Eastern hemlock
- 24 Hemlock - yellow birch
- 25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
- 26 Sugar maple - basswood
- 27 Sugar maple
- 28 Black cherry - maple
- 30 Red spruce - yellow birch
- 31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
- 32 Red spruce
- 33 Red spruce - balsam fir
- 34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
- 39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
- 42 Bur oak
- 46 Eastern redcedar
- 52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
- 53 White oak
- 57 Yellow-poplar
- 58 Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
- 60 Beech - sugar maple
- 62 Silver maple - American elm
- 70 Longleaf pine
- 80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
- 81 Loblolly pine
- 82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
- 93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry
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