Cornus hongkongensis ssp. ferruginea
Rusty evergreen dogwood
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Introduction
Rusty evergreen dogwood is a southeastern Chinese subspecies of Cornus hongkongensis distinguished by conspicuous coarse, rufous-brown hairs on the lower leaf surface and veins. Its range extends westward to Guizhou and falls within the warm, humid part of the broader hongkongensis distribution (Xiang & Boufford 2005; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2026).
The subspecies is taxonomically notable because chloroplast-genome analyses have recovered ferruginea away from the core hongkongensis samples. Tree TSAR does not elevate it on that basis alone: chloroplast history can differ from the species history through introgression or lineage sorting, and present sampling remains too limited to override the integrative subspecies treatment (Guan et al. 2024).
Horticultural and Agricultural Uses
Subsp. ferruginea is uncommon in Western collections. Its dense rusty indumentum makes it one of the more readily characterized forms of C. hongkongensis, and it could be horticulturally distinctive where suitable mild, moist conditions are available. Known-provenance propagation is preferable to anonymous material because the taxon is valuable as a geographic and phylogenetic sample of the complex.
Conservation Concerns
The subspecies has no widely cited independent global conservation category. Kew accepts it as a geographically coherent subspecies, while the parent species is Least Concern (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2026).
Because its range is narrower than that of C. hongkongensis as a whole and its genomic placement is still being clarified, ex situ and field collections should preserve precise locality data. Future nuclear population sampling is especially important for testing whether the chloroplast signal reflects deeper lineage separation or reticulate history.
Additional Information
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Plants of the World Online (opens in a new tab) — Accepted subspecies, distribution, and synonymy.
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Trees and Shrubs Online — Cornus hongkongensis (opens in a new tab) — Diagnostic key and species-complex discussion.
References and Further Reading
Deasy M, Crowley D, Aldridge J, Chişu R (2026) Cornus hongkongensis. Trees and Shrubs Online. https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-hongkongensis/ (opens in a new tab)
Guan B, Wen J, Guo H, Liu Y (2024) Comparative and phylogenetic analyses based on the complete chloroplast genome of Cornus subg. Syncarpea (Cornaceae) species. Frontiers in Plant Science 15: 1306196. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1306196 (opens in a new tab)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026) Cornus hongkongensis ssp. ferruginea (H.Hara) Q.Y.Xiang. Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:953438-1 (opens in a new tab)
Xiang Q-Y, Boufford DE (2005) Cornus. In: Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) Flora of China, Vol. 14. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, pp. 206–221. https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=108042 (opens in a new tab)