Alternateleaf dogwood
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Swida alternifolia (L. f.) Small; old Cornus alternifolia L. f.
Common name(s): alternateleaf dogwood, alternate-leaf dogwood, alternate-leaved dogwood, pagoda dogwood, green osier
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- on edge of blueberry field
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- ripe fruit, mid-August
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- leaves alternate, clustered at ends of branches
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- leaf detail
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- young bark
Description:
-deciduous shrub
-horizontal branching
-leaves are
- alternate
- simple
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- Leaf blade length is50–100 mm
- Leaf blade width is 25–50 mm
-fruit is fleshy
- reddish-green fruits mature to black drupes
-reproduces vegetatively by layering and suckering and can be propagated by cuttings.
-differentiated because its small flowers are distinct and do not cluster together to form a showy “pseudo flower”
Habitat:
-forests
-shrublands
-thickets
Sources:
Go Botany. “Swida Alternifolia (L. f.) Small.” Swida Alternifolia (Alternate-Leaved Dogwood, Pagoda Dogwood): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/swida/alternifolia/.