Cornus poliophylla C.K.Schneid. & Wangerin — Silver dogwood

Introduction

Silver dogwood is a deciduous shrub or small tree of central and western China, with pale leaf undersides, dense hairy flower clusters, and dark fruit. It was long treated as an infraspecific element of the Cornus schindleri-C. scabrida complex, but molecular data support keeping it separate (Deasy et al. 2026; Du et al. 2023).

Tree TSAR therefore recognizes C. poliophylla at species rank. Compared with broad C. scabrida, it differs in bud shape, the relative proportions of filaments and petals, and especially the character of the indumentum: appressed brown hairs rather than the conspicuously curly, yellowish pubescence typical of many C. scabrida forms (Deasy et al. 2026).

Horticultural and Agricultural Uses

Silver dogwood has been present in botanical cultivation for more than a century through Chinese seed collections, although it has remained a specialist plant. It is better suited to arboreta and woodland collections than to mass-market use, where its differences from related Chinese dogwoods are subtle.

Correct identification depends on well-developed buds, leaves, and inflorescences, so voucher specimens are particularly valuable. This is also a species for which nursery labels inherited from older C. schindleri concepts should be checked rather than accepted uncritically.

Conservation Concerns

A formal global threat assessment is not prominent in the sources reviewed here. The species occupies multiple Chinese provinces and a broad elevational range, but its historical merger with C. scabrida can fragment or obscure occurrence data. Conservation collections should preserve correctly determined, wild-source accessions from multiple regions.

Additional Information

Trees and Shrubs Online (opens in a new tab) - Modern species account and comparison with C. scabrida.
Plants of the World Online (opens in a new tab) - Accepted backbone and synonymy.
Flora of China (opens in a new tab) - Older regional treatment within the schindleri complex.

References and Further Reading

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

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026) Cornus poliophylla C.K.Schneid. & Wangerin. Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Cornus%20poliophylla%20C.K.Schneid.%20%26%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)

Lindelof K, Lindo JA, Zhou W, Ji X, Xiang Q-Y (2020) Phylogenomics, biogeography, and evolution of the blue- or white-fruited dogwoods (Cornus) - insights into morphological and ecological niche divergence following intercontinental geographic isolation. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 58(5): 604-645. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12676 (opens in a new tab)