180 American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



Red-osier dogwood is widespread in the United States and abundant in 

 most of the western national parks and on Isle Royale. Two Pacific coast 

 forms commonly considered as different species or varieties are so similar to 

 red-osier dogwood that we are not here distinguishing between them. These 

 are creek dogwood (Cornus calijornica May.) and its variety pubescens Mcbr. 

 (syn. C. occidental. s Gov.) The distinctions are based on the character of 

 the hairiness of the leaves. ^^ 



The shrubs are conspicuous along streams because of their smooth purplish- 

 red branches which are especially prominent early in the Spring before the 

 leaves appear. Later, in the Fall, the leaves become a beautiful dark purplish- 

 red color. Small white or greenish flowers are borne in more or less flat-topped 

 clusters without the petal-like bracts which are so conspicuous in the Pacific 

 dogwood tree and in the small bunch-berry dogwood. The fruits are juicy 

 white or bluish berries. The herbage is too bitter to be very palatable as a 

 browse for animals, but it is eaten to some extent by deer and elk. 



Occurrence. — OLYMPIC: Lake Crescent. MOUNT rainier, crater LAKE: lower Red- 

 blanket Creek. LASSEN: Manzanita Creek; Kings Creek. YOSEMITE : Benson Lake; 

 Lake Merced; junction of Clark and Gray Creeks. KINGS CANYON: Kings River Can- 

 yon; General Grant Grove. SEQUOIA: Marble Fork Kaweah River; Giant Forest; 

 Dorst Creek. GLACIER, common, 3,150 to 5,000 feet: Belton; east end of Logging 

 Lake; McDonald Creek; Avalanche campground; Waferton ranger station; Swift- 

 current Creek; Two Medicine Lake; St. Mary Lake; Red Eagle Lake. YELLOW- 

 STONE: Mammoth Hot Springs. GRAND TETON: east of park boundary near Moose, 

 6,500 feet. ROCKY MOUNTAIN. ZION : trail from Zion Lodge to Birch Creek, 4,500 feet. 

 GRAND CANYON, 7,500 to 8,800 feet. North Rim and just below: Neal Spring; Bright 

 Angel Point; Top of Kaibab Trail; Bright Angel Spring. ISLE ROYALE, common 

 around lakes and swamps or along streams: Mott Island; Rock Harbor. 



3. Pacific Dogwood {Cornus Nuttalli Aud.). — Tall shrub or small 

 tree 10 to 30 feet high with usually smooth reddish or ashy brown bark; 

 leaves opposite, broadly oblong to oval or roundish, rounded or shortly 

 pointed at the tips, 3 to 5 inches long; flowers greenish or yellowish, crowded 

 into heads 1/2 to 1 inch across, the heads surrounded by 4 to 6 conspicuous 

 white, petal -like bracts 1^4 to 3 inches long; fruits red, ^ inch long, borne 

 in dense head-like clusters. 



Occurrence. — OLYMPIC, occasional: Lake Crescent; Elwha River; no.th of Wild- 

 rose Creek, 2,500 feet. MOUNT RAINIER, rare in Douglas fir and western hemlock 

 lorests: near Ohanapecosh Hot Springs. CRATER LAKE, rare: Redblanket Canyon. YO- 

 SEMITE, occasional. SEQUOIA, occasional: along the General's Highway above Ash 

 Mountain; northeast of Marble Falls; Colony Mill; Garfield Forest. 



Heath Family (Ericaceae) 

 Field Guide to the Genera 



1. Leaves scale-Ul^e or linear, nol more than ^/g inch long, densely 

 clothing the stems; lotv alpine shrubs. 



Leaves less than '74 inch long, awl-shaped or linear; flowers white; found in Pacific 



coast parks CASSIOPE, p. 181. 



Leaves ]/4 to 5^ inch long, linear; flowers red or whitish to yellow; found in parks 



of the Pacific coast and Rocky Mountains PHYLLODOCE, p. 182. 



38 Jepson, W. L., Flora of California, vol. 2, p. 678. 1936. 



