Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera)
- Family: Dogwood (Cornaceae)
- Flowering: May-August.
- Field Marks: The bright red twigs and the white fruits readily distinguish this handsome dogwood.
- Habitat: Wet soil along streams, around ponds and lakes, in bogs.
- Habit: Shrub up to 8 feet tall, spreading by stolons.
- Stems: Young branches bright red, smooth or less commonly hairy.
- Leaves: Opposite, simple, lanceolate to ovate, pointed at the tip, rounded or tapering to the base, without teeth, usually mostly or slightly hairy on both surfaces, up to 4 inches long, up to 3 inches broad.
- Flowers: Several in a round-topped or flat-topped cluster, white.
- Sepals: 4, united, green.
- Petals: 4, free, white.
- Stamens: 4.
- Pistils: 1; style 1; ovary inferior.
- Fruits: Drupes white, spherical, 1/3 inch in diameter.
- Notes: This species often forms dense thickets due to its stoloniferous growth form.
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