Cornus racemosa, gray dogwood
Coladonato, Milo. 1993. Cornus racemosa, gray 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/corrac
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| CORRAC | gray dogwood | Cornus racemosa | 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 currently accepted scientific name of gray dogwood is Cornus racemosa Lam. [16]. Some authorities consider C. racemosa a subspecies of Cornus foemina [8,10]. Little [17], however, considers it a distinct species.
Synonyms
- Cornus foemina ssp. racemosa
Other Common Names
grey dogwood, gray-stemmed dogwood, panicled dogwood
General Distribution
Gray dogwood's main range is from Maine and southern Ontario; south through New England and Pennsylvania; and west to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. Its southern range is from the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia to northern Arkansas. Disjunct populations also occur in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska [2,10,17,30].
States and Provinces
- United States: AR CT DE IL IN IA KY ME MD MA MI MN MO NE NH NJ NY NC ND OH OK PA RI SC SD TN VT VA WV WI
- Canada: MB ON PQ
Site Characteristics
Gray dogwood in bloom on the edge of a stream, Washington County, Pennsylvania. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Gray dogwood grows on a variety of sites within its range. It is found in meadows, open woodlands, riparian zones, along roadsides, and forest margins. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils, but will also grow on mineral-rich limestone bedrock and rock outcroppings. In Appalachian oak-hickory forests, it usually occurs on open ridgetops and south- and west-facing slopes [1,10,16].
Plant Communities
Gray dogwood is one of the dominant shrubs in the oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya) forests of the northeastern United States. Common codominants include maple-leaved viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Other common associates of gray dogwood include American hazel (Corylus americana), beaked hazelnut (C. cornuta), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) [3,23,26].
Botanical Description
Gray dogwood berries, Shawnee National Forest, Illinois. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Gray dogwood is a native, deciduous, rhizomatous shrub, usually from 4 to 10 feet (1.2-3.0 m) high. It sometimes becomes a small tree up to 27 feet (8 m) high [17]. It has ascending stems and branches that often form impenetrable dome-shaped clusters or thickets [4]. The leaves are 2.5 to 4.0 inches (6.0-10 cm) long, and the flowers are borne in open, irregular cymes. The individual fruits enclose a single stone and occur in clusters [2,6,14].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Phanerophyte
Seasonal Development
Gray dogwood flowers from May through July, with fruits maturing from August through October [4,14]. Leaves emerge in early April and abscise in late October [13].
Regeneration Processes
Gray dogwood reproduces both sexually and asexually. It begins producing seed at about 4 to 5 years of age and produces an abundant amount of seed every year. Gray dogwood reproduces vegetatively by sprouting from underground rhizomes [22,29].
Successional Status
Facultative Seral Species
Gray dogwood is an early to mid-seral species [12,20]. It is most common in understories of mixed, open forests and grows best in moderate to full sunlight [18]. In southwestern Wisconsin, aboveground growth rates of gray dogwood were greater in open habitats than in forest understories [12].
Immediate Fire Effects
Aboveground plant parts are often killed by fire [25,26]. The underground rhizomes probably survive all but severe fires that remove duff and heat the upper soil for extended periods of time.
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil
- Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
- Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)
Fire Adaptations
Postfire regeneration strategies of grey dogwood are not documented in the literature. It probably survives fire by sprouting from rhizomes. It also produces an abundance of soil-stored seed [23], which may germinate after fire.
Plant Response to Fire
Percent cover of native shrubs, including gray dogwood, decreased following fire in a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) savanna in east-central Minnesota [26].
In a study of postfire plant response in four plant communities in central New York, gray dogwood frequency on 17 burned plots averaged 62 percent at postfire year 1. Frequency on unburned plots was 62 percent [25].
The Research Paper by Bowles and others 2007 provides information on postfire responses of several plant species, including gray dogwood, that was not available when this species review was originally written.
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
None
Other Status
None
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
In Missouri, Ohio, and Illinois, gray dogwood is one of the most important forage plants for white-tailed deer [5,19,24]. The seeds and buds are a favorite food for ring-necked pheasant and northern bobwhite in southern Michigan [28].
Gray dogwood thickets provide cover for a variety of birds and mammals [2,6,14].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
No entry.
Cover Value
No entry.
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
Gray dogwood is well adapted for revegetating disturbed sites. It is easily established by direct seedling and grows rapidly [11,29]. It has been successfully planted for revegetating highway corridors in Wisconsin and coal mine spoils in the eastern United States [11,28,29].
Other Uses
Gray dogwood has been planted for ornamental purposes because of its showy flowers, fruits, and attractive fall coloring [2].
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
- 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
- K099 Maple - basswood forest
- K100 Oak - hickory forest
- K102 Beech - maple forest
- K101 Elm - ash forest
- K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
- K104 Appalachian oak forest
- K106 Northern hardwoods
- K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
- K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 17 Pin cherry
- 19 Gray birch - red maple
- 20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
- 21 Eastern white pine
- 22 White pine - hemlock
- 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
- 35 Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
- 37 Northern white-cedar
- 39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
- 42 Bur oak
- 43 Bear oak
- 44 Chestnut oak
- 52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
- 53 White oak
- 55 Northern red oak
- 57 Yellow-poplar
- 58 Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
- 59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
- 60 Beech - sugar maple
- 62 Silver maple - American elm
- 64 Sassafras - persimmon
- 107 White spruce
- 108 Red maple
- 110 Black oak
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry.
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