A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Cornus asperifolia Michx.

Modern name

Cornus asperifolia Michx.

Synonyms

C. microcarpa Nash; Swida microcarpa (Nash) Small

This species is represented in cultivation by the following variety:

var. drummondii (C. A. Mey.) Coult. & Evans C. drummondii C. A. Mey. – A deciduous shrub 10 to 15 ft high, or a small tree; twigs grey or reddish brown. Leaves ovate or oval, 2 to 4 in. long, about half as wide; slender-pointed, tapering or rounded at the base, upper surface dark green and rough, with minute, flattened, stiff hairs; lower surface pale and with thicker, softer down; veins in about five pairs; stalk 13 to 34 in. long, grooved, downy. Flowers yellowish white, 14 to 13 in. across, produced in rounded corymbs 112 to 212 in. in diameter; petals narrowly oblong, calyx downy and with very minute teeth. Fruit round, white, 14 in. across.

Native of the eastern and central United States, found occasionally as a tree nearly 50 ft high in Arkansas and Texas (Sargent). It reaches as far north as Lake Erie, and appears to be quite hardy near London. It has little, however, to recommend it as a garden shrub.


Genus

Cornus

Other species in the genus