Cornus canadensis : Bunchberry

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Cornaceae (Dogwood Family)

Genera: Cornus (Dogwood) (Lat. cornu= ahorn of leather; referring to the hardness of the wood)

Species: canadensis (Canadian)

Synonym(s): C. unalaschkensis

English Name(s):

Bunchberry, Dwarf/Bunchberry/Canadian Dogwood,

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Herbaceous plant from slender creeping rhizomes (stems).
• Stems unbranched, 5-15 cm tall.

Leaves:

• 1 or 2 pair(s) of secondary much smaller leaves found lower on the stem.
• Elliptic-ovate to obovate in shape.
• Pinnately viened.
• Margins of all leaves entire (smooth).
• Primary leaves3-6 cm long by 0.8-4 cm wide.
• Principal leaves in an apparent whorl of 4 or 6 at the summit of the stem.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers are yellowish or greenish, covered in white hairs.
• Flowers small in a dense cluster surounded by 4 petal-like whitish bracts.
• Ovaries inferior (within receptacle) greenish when young, covered in dense hairs.

Seed:

• Drupes 6-9 mm in diameter, born in dense clusters.
• Orange-red to red drupes (berries).

Not to Be Confused With:

• Sometimes C.canadensis (Bunchberry) will be taller in stature, lower leaves will be larger and the flower petals will have some purple on them. These variants are sometimes separated into thier own species called C. unalaschkensis.

Physiology:

• C.unalaschkensis has reduced or no fertility and reproduces vegitatively.
• The presence of populations of C.unalaschkensis in our study area sugests that the range C.suecida would have been greater, and extended into our area, in an earlier climatic period.
• The range of C.seucica lies to the West of our study area in Alaska.
• The variant of C. canadensis (Bunchberry) sometimes called C.unalaschkensis, described in 'Similar Species' above, is of hybid origin between C.canadensis and C.seucica.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial

Seasonal Cycle:

• Blooms in early to mid-July.
• Leaves and stems turn purple and limp over winter often rejuvinating in the spring.

Animal Uses:

• Birds are very fond of the fruit.
• The prominent white petal-like bracts surounding the flower clusters help to attract pollenating insects to the flowers.

Habitat:

• Woodlands, meadowlands, riverbanks and clearings.

Modern:

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Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

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Traditional Other:

Folklore:

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