Cornus coreana Wangerin — Korean dogwood

Introduction

Korean dogwood is a deciduous tree of Korea and adjacent northeastern China, capable of reaching roughly 20 m. Mature trees develop pale brown bark that breaks into rectangular plates, and the spring flower clusters are followed by small black drupes. Trees and Shrubs Online and Flora of China retain it as a species, while Kew currently sinks it into C. walteri (Xiang & Boufford 2005; Deasy et al. 2026; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2026).

Tree TSAR provisionally accepts Cornus coreana separately. The distinction is subtle rather than dramatic: Korean material has been described as having smaller flowers and darker bark than C. walteri, and historical field observations emphasized a mature bark pattern fissured into small squares. Those characters are suggestive but require broader population sampling, so the species remains an explicit taxonomic watch rather than a settled endpoint (Deasy et al. 2026).

Horticultural and Agricultural Uses

Korean dogwood is rare in horticulture but not unknown. Historical introductions reached American collections from Korea in the late 1920s, and more recent material from South Korean arboreta is represented in European collections. Trees and Shrubs Online places it broadly in USDA Zones 5-9, suggesting useful cold hardiness for a tree-sized member of Subgenus Thelycrania (Deasy et al. 2026).

For living collections, wild provenance is unusually important. Material historically grown as C. walteri may prove to be C. coreana, and the value of cultivated specimens increases substantially when Korean locality and voucher data can be recovered.

Conservation Concerns

No separate global threat assessment is currently established for Cornus coreana in the major sources used here. Its conservation picture is also blurred by taxonomic merger with C. walteri in some backbones. Verified Korean populations should therefore be documented independently so that a future population-genomic reassessment can test both species limits and conservation status.

Additional Information

Trees and Shrubs Online (opens in a new tab) - Species account retaining Korean dogwood separately from C. walteri.
Plants of the World Online (opens in a new tab) - Current Kew treatment under C. walteri; differs from Tree TSAR.
Flora of China (opens in a new tab) - Regional morphology and distribution supporting separate treatment.

References and Further Reading

Deasy M, Crowley D, Aldridge J, Chişu R (2026) Cornus coreana. Trees and Shrubs Online. https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-coreana/ (opens in a new tab)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026) Cornus coreana Wangerin. Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Cornus%20coreana%20Wangerin (opens in a new tab)

Xiang Q-Y, Boufford DE (2005) Cornaceae. In: Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) Flora of China 14. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, pp. 206-221. https://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=2 (opens in a new tab)

Du Z-Y, Xiang Q-Y, Cheng J, Zhou W, Wang Q-F, Soltis DE, Soltis PS (2023) An updated phylogeny, biogeography, and PhyloCode-based classification of Cornaceae based on three sets of genomic data. American Journal of Botany 110(2): e16116. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16116 (opens in a new tab)