Cornus nuttallii

Mountain dogwood

Family: Cornaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mountain dogwood is a California native shrub or tree found in the California Floristic Province, particularly less common in southern California, in forest habitats at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces showy white to greenish-white flowers with distinctive large bracts 4 to 6 centimeters wide that persist around the flower cluster. Growing up to 25 meters tall with green twigs and bark that turns dark red to nearly black with age, it develops an elegant, spreading form. Its leaves are narrow-elliptic to obovate, 6 to 12 centimeters long, with a lighter and hairier undersurface and a slightly puberulent upper surface. The fruit is an elliptic, generally angled red drupe 1 to 1.5 centimeters long with a smooth stone.

Habitat: Forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (less common s CA)

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Sonoma, Plumas, Mariposa, Butte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Calaveras, Fresno, Shasta, Madera, Trinity, Amador, Napa, Tuolumne, Tulare, San Diego, Lake, Placer, Sierra, Inyo, Mono, Del Norte, Marin, Mendocino, San Mateo, Orange, Tehama, Kern, Nevada, Monterey, Los Angeles, Yuba, Santa Cruz, Modoc, San Benito, Santa Clara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.