Common Name:
ROUGH-LEAVED DOGWOOD
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Coefficient of Conservatism:
6
Coefficient of Wetness:
0
Wetness Index:
FAC
Physiognomy:
Nt Shrub
R. W. Smith
Banks and thickets, especially along rivers and borders of forests. Though very local in Michigan, this species is often abundant where it occurs, and can dominate areas, especially along the Detroit River and near Lake Erie.
Vigorous plants from fencerows in Monroe Co. with leaves intermediate between this species and C. foemina are apparently hybrids; they have high pollen viability and fruit set. A collection (J. S. Wilson 261, MICH) from along a ditch in the same county was considered to be a hybrid with C. amomum subsp. obliqua; it has longer and narrower leaf blades than in either parent and has almost no viable pollen.
Superficially resembling a broad leaved Cornus foemina, this species regularly achieves a larger size and can occasionally become a small tree, with distinctive, finely scaly, dark bark. When Cornus foemina is reaching peak flower, C. drummondii growing in the same setting is still in late bud.