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Cornus sericea, the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species Cornus alba. Other names include red brush, red willow,USDA NRCS Plant Guide: REDOSIER DOGWOOD. May, 2006Hilger, Inez (1951, repr. 1992) Chippewa Child Life and Its Cultural Background, page 63Hart, Jeff, and Jacqueline Moore (1992). Montana—native plants and early peoples, pages 38–39. Montana Historical Society. redstem dogwood, redtwig dogwood, red-rood, American dogwood, creek dogwood, and western dogwood.
The leaves are opposite, long and broad, with an ovate to oblong shape and an entire margin; they are dark green above and glaucous below; fall color is commonly bright red to purple. Like all dogwoods, they have characteristic stringy white piths within the leaf stalks, which can be used for identification.
The are wide, flat, umbel-like and dull white, in clusters across.
The fruit is a Sphere white berry in diameter. It is bitter and unpalatable.
Cornus sericea L. has been recorded from counties County Antrim and Londonderry in Northern Ireland.Hackney, P. 1992. "Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland." Third edition. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast. (HB)
In the wild, the species most commonly grows in areas of rich, poorly drained soils, such as riparian zones and wetlands, or in upland areas which receive more than of annual precipitation. More uncommonly, it may be found in drier zones albeit at lesser abundance. Red osier dogwood is tolerant of flooding and has been known to survive up to seven years of water above root crown level. It occurs from sea level to , but in many areas is most common above .
Cornus sericea is shade tolerant but prefers intermediate to high light levels. It tolerates disturbance well, and appears early in both primary and secondary succession throughout its native range, but especially in floodplains and riparian zones. It thrives in fire-disturbed sites, sprouting from seeds or damaged shrubs.
Although its conservation status is overall secure, it is considered vulnerable in Iowa and critically imperiled in Kentucky and Virginia.
Like most dogwood species native to North America, C. sericea can be parasitized by the dogwood sawfly, possibly leaving much of the plant devoid of leaves. A variety of pesticides are effective; however, hand-picking the larvae is also an option.
Some Plateau Indigenous tribes ate the berries to treat common cold and to slow bleeding.Moerman, Daniel E. (1998) " Cornus sericea ssp. occidentallis" Native American ethnobotany Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, page 178,
Known as čhaŋšáša in Lakota language, the inner bark was also used by the Lakota and other Native Americans as "traditional tobacco", either by itself or in a mixture with other plant materials.Cutler, Charles L. (2002) Tracks that speak: the legacy of Native American words in North American culture, page 176. Among the Algonquian peoples such as the Ojibwe, the smoking mixtures, known as kinnikinnick, blended the inner bark with tobacco, while more western tribes added it to the bearberry leaf to improve the taste.Staff (2009) "Bearberry" Discovering Lewis and Clark The Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation
The Ojibwe used red-osier dogwood bark as a dye by taking the inner bark and mixing it with other plants or minerals.
The withies, or osiers, are used in basketry.
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