Cornus multinervosa (Pojark.) Q.Y.Xiang — Sichuan flowering dogwood

Introduction

Sichuan flowering dogwood is a little-known deciduous member of subgenus Syncarpea endemic to southwestern China. It forms a small to medium tree, typically 4–8 m but sometimes taller, in mixed woods of Sichuan and Yunnan between roughly 900 and 2700 m. The leaves are distinctive within the big-bracted dogwoods for their relatively numerous secondary veins, usually five to seven pairs extending nearly to the leaf apex; white or yellow bracts surround the flower heads, and the compound fruits mature red (Xiang & Boufford 2005).

Genomically, C. multinervosa belongs with the kousa–hongkongensis side of the Syncarpea radiation rather than the capitata–sunhangii group (Du et al. 2024). Its nomenclature is unusually clean: the principal historical names are the homotypic combinations Cynoxylon multinervosum and Dendrobenthamia multinervosa, with no major heterotypic synonym complex in current global treatments.

Horticultural and Agricultural Uses

Cornus multinervosa remains rare in cultivation, but its deciduous habit, showy bracts, and red compound fruits give it clear ornamental potential. Its montane Sichuan–Yunnan origin suggests that provenances from higher elevations may perform in cool temperate gardens, although cultivation experience is too limited for broad prescriptions.

For botanical collections, wild provenance is especially important. The species has not undergone the intense horticultural selection seen in C. kousa, so living accessions can still represent relatively direct samples of wild genetic diversity.

Conservation Concerns

The IUCN category presented through Kew is Least Concern, but Kew’s 2024 Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions model independently predicts C. multinervosa as threatened with confident support (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2026). These assessments are not equivalent: one is a formal category and the other a predictive model, and the disagreement should be retained rather than averaged away.

The species’ relatively restricted Sichuan–Yunnan range and montane forest habitat justify continued field verification of population status, habitat trends, and representation in protected areas. Provenance-rich ex situ collections are useful insurance but should complement, not replace, conservation of mixed forest habitat.

Additional Information

Plants of the World Online (opens in a new tab) — Accepted species, IUCN data, and predicted-risk data.
Flora of China (opens in a new tab) — Detailed morphology, habitat, and distribution.
Trees and Shrubs Online index (opens in a new tab) — Modern genus synthesis including C. multinervosa in the Syncarpea key.

References and Further Reading

Du Z-Y, Cheng J, Xiang Q-Y (2024) RAD-seq data provide new insights into biogeography, diversity anomaly, and species delimitation in eastern Asian–North American disjunct clade Benthamidia of Cornus (Cornaceae). Journal of Systematics and Evolution 62(1): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.13037 (opens in a new tab)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026) Cornus multinervosa (Pojark.) Q.Y.Xiang. Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:943873-1 (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)