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”)
-
- in flower, early June
-
- flowers are in center; “petals” are bracts
-
- late flower
-
- in fruit, mid-July
-
- leaves turn reddish with age, mid-September
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/.