Bunchberry

Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated April 2019.

Scientific name: Cornus canadensis L.; also Chamaepericlymenum canadense (L.) Aschers. & Graebn. and Cornella canadensis (L.) Rydb.

Common name(s): bunchberry, Canadian dwarf cornel, Canadian bunchberry, bunchberry dogwood, creeping dogwood, Canada dwarf-dogwood

Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany

Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)

Description:

– perennial

– generally flowers spring through June in ME

– generally fruits June through August in ME

-stem is 3″-9″ high and woody at the base

-four to six terminally whorled leaves with one or two pairs of smaller leaves below

  • simple
  • Leaves acute at both ends with two to three lateral veins arising from the midvein

-Flowers solitary on a short stem

  • 4 white involucral bracts

-Bright red berries develop by late summer.

Habitat:

-disturbed sites

-forest edges

-swamps

wetlands

 

Source(s):

Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.

Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.

Go Botany. “Chamaepericlymenum Canadense (L.) Aschers. & Graebn.” Chamaepericlymenum Canadense (Bunchberry, Canada Dwarf-Dogwood): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/chamaepericlymenum/canadense/.