''Cornus obliqua'', the blue-fruited dogwood, silky dogwood, or pale dogwood, is a

flowering A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

shrub of eastern North America in the dogwood family,

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 ...

. It is sometimes considered a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''

Cornus amomum ''Cornus amomum'', the silky dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to the eastern United States, from Michigan and Vermont south to Alabama and Florida. Other names include red willow, silky cornel, kinnikinnick, and squawbush. Description ' ...

'', which is also known as silky dogwood. It was first described in 1820 by

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

. It is in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

'' Kraniopsis''.

References

obliqua Flora of North America Plants described in 1820 Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque {{Cornales-stub