PNW Native
Ranges from British Columbia through California (G)
Trees range up to 20 m / 65 ft tall with a sprawling, multi-branched growth habit but frequently inhabit the tall shrub understory. Leaves are simple, opposite, deciduous, ovate and pointed, turning a dramatic shade of red, orange, or magenta in fall. (LC) Flowers have 4 petals, sepals, and stamens, and are small and light green in tight, round clusters at the center of 4-6 large white bracts (modified petal-resembling leaves). The flowers and bracts together appear as a single inflorescence. The bark is dark brown-black and finely ridged when mature. (PM) Fruits are round clusters of attractive but mealy bright red drupes. (LC)
Pacific dogwood depends on insects for pollination, but the fruit surrounding seeds attracts dispersal by birds and mammals. (G) Pacific dogwood flourishes in moist sites with good drainage at low – mid elevations and forests of various vegetation densities. The showy bracts of Pacific dogwood attract various insect pollinators. (DM)
Pacific dogwood was made into arrow shafts, harpoon shafts, bows and toolhandles (second-choice) (Turner), gambling discs by Klallam, Skagit, and Duwamish, and the Duwamish, Skagit, and Quileute tribes made health-boosting tonics from the bark. (Gunther) The famous Saanich ’10 barks’ medicine researched by Turner and Hebda in 1990 included Pacific dogwood bark. Nlaka’pamux used the bark to make a brown dye. Malaria treatments, blood purifiers, lung strengtheners, and stomach treatments were all made from pacific dogwood bark. Baskets were made from young woven shoots by the people who resided in the Sierra Nevadas. (G)
The hard wood of Pacific dogwood has lent itself to multiple purposes including bows, arrows, piano keys, spindles of thread, and golf club heads amongst other implements. Currently, harvesting of pacific dogwood is illegal in British Columbia because it is the provincial flower.
[1] Gucker, Corey L. 2005. Cornus nuttallii. In: Fire Effects Information System,. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/cornut/all.html.
