Cornus wilsoniana Wangerin — Ghost dogwood

Introduction

Ghost dogwood is a deciduous tree of central and southeastern China, named in Tree TSAR for the pale mottled bark that develops as the trunk exfoliates in irregular plates. The leaves are grey-green and distinctly pale beneath, white flowers are borne in broad paniculate to corymbose clusters, and the fruit matures purplish black. Wild trees occur mainly in lower-elevation forest, generally below about 1100 m (Xiang & Boufford 2005; Deasy et al. 2026).

The species has a famous nomenclatural history. Wangerin discovered that material distributed under Ernest Wilson’s collection number 764 contained more than one dogwood; this helped create a century of confusion between C. wilsoniana and C. walteri. The true species differs in inflorescence and style characters as well as bark. Modern genomics places C. wilsoniana closer to C. macrophylla and C. oligophlebia than to C. walteri (Du et al. 2023; Deasy et al. 2026).

Horticultural and Agricultural Uses

Ghost dogwood is an underused ornamental tree whose chief feature is the mature bark, which can become a striking patchwork of pale gray, green, salmon, and brown. Trees and Shrubs Online reports successful cultivation in Britain, continental Europe, eastern North America, and Australia, with the bark improving as plants age and receive good light (Deasy et al. 2026).

The species has also been proposed as a street tree in China. Its oil-rich fruits and hard timber have practical value, and recent genomic research has examined oil biosynthesis in the species. For ornamental collections, wild-origin seed is preferable to material of uncertain identity because old horticultural plants labeled C. wilsoniana have sometimes proved to be C. walteri.

Conservation Concerns

Ghost dogwood is assessed as Least Concern and occupies many Chinese provinces (Deasy et al. 2026). Although it is surprisingly uncommon in cultivation relative to its beauty, that horticultural scarcity does not imply wild endangerment. Conservation collections should nevertheless maintain multiple provenances, especially because the species’ low-elevation habitats have been underrepresented in historical collecting.

Additional Information

iNaturalist (opens in a new tab) - Direct taxon page with observations.
Trees and Shrubs Online (opens in a new tab) - Detailed taxonomy, bark, cultivation history, and uses.
Plants of the World Online (opens in a new tab) - Accepted backbone and conservation data.
Flora of China (opens in a new tab) - Regional morphology, range, habitat, and uses.

References and Further Reading

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

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