Description & Range

PNW Native

Ranges from Alaska through W. Coast USA

Red-osier dogwood, less commonly known as Kelseyi redtwig dogwood, is a large deciduous shrub to small tree growing up to 2.5 m / 18 ft tall. Growth habit is sprawling and erect and is prone to forming thickets. Branches are opposite, green to red in color depending on amount of sun exposure, leaves are long (5 - 10 cm / 2 - 4 in) with a pointed oval shape, simple, and opposite arrangement.(DM) Flowers grow in dense, flat-topped terminal clusters (PM) and are each small ( 2.5 - 5 cm / 1 - 2 in) and white with four petals. Flowers bloom May through August. Fruits are berry-like drupes filled with a large stone, mealy in flavor, white, and bitter, (LC)

Ecology

Red-osier dogwood is an important source of cover, browse, and food for numerous animals. Rabbits, beavers, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, deer, and moose all frequently browse the stems, and bears, birds, and small mammals consume the seeds. Young, springtime shoots are of special significance as are twigs for wintertime food as browse for ungulates. Red-osier dogwood is referred to as “ice cream” in Montana due to how much animals love to eat the tree. Red-osier dogwood provides nesting sites for birds and summer cover for other animals. (G)

Red-osier dogwood forms thickets and prefers moist sites and shores. (LC) The plant prefers streamsides, bog-forest margins, wetlands, open upland forests, valley bottoms, disturbed sites, and rocky shorelines. (PM) The mealy nature of red-osier dogwood fruits allows it to persist on the shrub long into winter when other, juicier, fruits have been either eaten or thoroughly decomposed by bacteria. Therefore, it fills a crucial role as a winter food source for numerous animals. Red-osier dogwood is remarkably cold tolerant and grows abundantly in the tundra. (DM)

Cultural and Historical Significance

Red-osier dogwood fruits were eaten by Coast Salish and Northwest Coast people widely. Stems and bark were used in medicinal tonics, wood was used in tools, and red-osier dogwood was commonly used by Northwest Natives for gynecological treatments. The Saanich soaked dogwood bark in warm water and drank it as a purgative to induce vomiting, cleanse the stomach, and clear the lungs. Bark tonic tea was drunk by the Quileute and Salish to treat fevers and coughs. The inner bark was dried and smoked for an intoxicating effect by the Blackfeet. The Kootenai and Flathead tribes made a sweet-sour delicacy with serviceberries, red-osier dogwood fruit, and sugar. They also utilized red-osier dogwood for construction of arrows, teepee poles. The Dena’ina people used dogwood stems for basketry. The Chumash fashioned red-osier dogwood stems to help construct canoes and baby cradles and used long stems as fishing poles. (G)

Dogwood smoke flavor was prized both in salmon and in dried berries. The Shuswap and Okanogan used red-osier dogwood as roasting skewers and as drying racks for salmon. Some interior tribes in what is now the northeastern part of Washington ate red-osier dogwood fruit and mixed them with sweeter berries in berry cakes, but were not widely eaten by all people in the region. Red-osier dogwood fruits are the only dogwood fruits eaten by indigenous tribes in the Cascadia region. (LC) 

Economics

Red-osier dogwood is a recommended planting in erosion control and riparian revegetation due to its high moisture tolerance, rapid growth, rooting of drooping stems, ability to shade streams, and wildlife habitat protection. (G)