Northern Swamp Dogwood

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Berries

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Cornales
Family:	Cornaceae
Genus:	Cornus
Subgenus:	Swida
Species:	C. racemosa

Binomial name

Cornus racemosa
Lam.

Cornus racemosa (Northern Swamp Dogwood or Gray Dogwood) is a shrubby plant species growing to 5 m tall. Its native from southeastern Canada and northeastern United States. It is a member of the dogwood genus Cornus and the family Cornaceae.

Plants produce many stems and sucker much with older stems having distinctively gray colored bark. Upright growing plants with rounded habit have oppositely arranged leaves, and terminally born flowers. The white colored flowers are small with four petals and clustered together in rounded, 2 inch wide clusters called cymose panicles, produced in May to early June. After flowering, green fruits are produced that turn white in late summer, the white fruits or drupes are attached to the plant by way of rich red colored pedicels. Many species of Birds feed on the fruits. Old branches grow slowly, while new stems are fast growing, each branch tends to end in flowers. In the fall the foliage can take on a reddish or purplish color, though its not overly showy from a distance.

A synonymous name for the species is Swida racemosa.