''Cornus foemina'' is a species of flowering plant in the

Cornaceae The Cornaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera, ''Alangium'' and ''Cornus''. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, alt ...

known by the common names stiff dogwood''Cornus foemina''.
NatureServe. and swamp dogwood.''Cornus foemina''.
University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants.''Cornus foemina''.
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. It is native to parts of the eastern and southeastern United States. This plant is a large

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or small tree up to 15 feet tall with trunks up to 4 inches wide. The bark is smooth or furrowed. The oppositely arranged, deciduous leaves are oval in shape with smooth edges. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a flat-topped cluster of white flowers. The fruit is a blue or purple

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

. This plant grows in

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s, often in

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

y conditions. It can tolerate moderate amounts of

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

References

External links

*
USDA Plants Profile
foemina Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of the South-Central United States Taxa named by Philip Miller {{Cornales-stub