Species
+

Cornus drummondii C.A.Mey.

Drummond's dogwood, Rough-leaf Dogwood, Roughleaf dogwood, rough-leaved dogwood

Climate known 59 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cornus drummondii, commonly known as the roughleaf dogwood, is a small deciduous tree that is native primarily to the Great Plains and Midwestern regions of the United States. It is also found around the Mississippi River. It is uncommon in the wild, and is mostly found around forest borders. The roughleaf dogwood is used as a buffer strip around parking lots, in the median of highways and near the decks and patios of homes. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cornus drummondii”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cornus

Cornus is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and some species are evergreen. Several species have small heads of inconspicuous flowers surrounded by an involucre of large, typically white petal-like bracts, while others have more open clusters of petal-bearing flowers. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cornus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cornaceae
Described by
C.A.Mey.
Native to
Ontario, Illinois, Iowa +19
Wild records
1817 in range· 464 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Aug, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1032mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 124 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1032 mm a year, wettest May at 124 mm, driest January at 56 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -7.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cornus asperifolia var. drummondii (C.A.Mey.) J.M.Coult. & W.H.Evans; Cornus drummondii f. priceae (Small) Rickett; Cornus priceae Small; Cornus stricta A.Gray ex S.Watson; Swida drummondii (C.A.Mey.) Soják and 2 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (769 mm of 1032 mm) takes 8 months, March to October. Mean temperature moves 21.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1032 mm a year, wettest May at 124 mm, driest January at 56 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1032 mm a year at the habitat, 769 mm of it March to October. Wettest month May at 124 mm, driest January at 56 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 843 mm to 1345 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -7.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -7.8 °C, the absolute minimum -17.9 °C, about 52 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells -6.7 °C to 6.7 °C), warmest day 32.9 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 58% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 12 °C in Jan to 33 °C in Aug; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1032 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1016 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -17.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost41.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-17.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 16–43RH 55–58 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1016 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C12 / 1–1715 / 4–1919 / 10–2223 / 17–2627 / 22–2931 / 27–3233 / 29–3433 / 28–3529 / 24–3124 / 18–2718 / 10–2113 / 3–17
Night °C3 / -7–74 / -6–88 / -1–1213 / 6–1518 / 12–2021 / 17–2323 / 20–2523 / 19–2520 / 15–2214 / 9–179 / 2–124 / -4–8
Rain mm56 / 24–10662 / 35–9982 / 59–11687 / 65–118124 / 97–147114 / 101–15093 / 54–12282 / 51–11385 / 72–116102 / 72–13178 / 50–12067 / 34–122
DLI18 / 13–1922 / 19–2328 / 26–3035 / 33–3737 / 37–3941 / 40–4243 / 40–4439 / 36–4032 / 29–3425 / 21–2619 / 14–2016 / 11–17
RH %58 / 56–6157 / 56–6056 / 55–5955 / 54–5858 / 56–6158 / 57–6157 / 54–6056 / 53–6056 / 55–5956 / 55–5858 / 56–5958 / 57–62

Each figure is the median across the 1016 grid cells holding the 1727 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1120:1674 (33.975, -96.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -17.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1016 distinct grid cells holding the 1727 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1120:1674 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-96.250, lapse-corrected -13 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 183 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee· introduced: Virginia
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker32.586, -97.461 · in the densest population, 648 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1817 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 464 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 57 km away. 5 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 90 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1817 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondiiCornus drummondii

Photographs: (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Craig Hensley, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋), some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cornus drummondii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Expansion of Woody Plants in Tallgrass Prairie: A Fifteen-year Study of Fire and Fire-grazing Interactions
John M. Briggs, Alan K. Knapp, Brent L. Brock (2002) · The American Midland Naturalist
Positive feedbacks amplify rates of woody encroachment in mesic tallgrass prairie
Zak Ratajczak, Jesse B. Nippert, Jeffrey C. Hartman, Troy W. Ocheltree (2011) · Ecosphere
DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF FIRE ON SHRUB DENSITY AND ABOVEGROUND PRODUCTIVITY IN A MESIC GRASSLAND
Jana L. Heisler, John M. Briggs, Alan K. Knapp, John M. Blair (2004) · Ecology
Consequences of shrub expansion in mesic grassland: Resource alterations and graminoid responses
Michelle S. Lett, Alan K. Knapp (2003) · Journal of Vegetation Science
Variation of Dispersal Phenology in a Bird‐Dispersed Shrub, Cornus Drummondii
Mary F. Willson, Christopher J. Whelan (1993) · Ecological Monographs
Browsing and fire decreases dominance of a resprouting shrub in woody encroached grassland
Rory C. O’Connor, Jeffrey H. Taylor, Jesse B. Nippert (2019) · Ecology
Influence of shrub encroachment on aboveground net primary productivity and carbon and nitrogen pools in a mesic grassland
Michelle S. Lett, Alan K. Knapp, John M. Briggs, John M. Blair (2004) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Woody plant colonization in an experimentally fragmented landscape
Jin Yao, Robert D. Holt, Paul M. Rich, Wendy S. Marshall (1999) · Ecography
C 3 woody plant expansion in a C 4 grassland: are grasses and shrubs functionally distinct?
James K. McCarron, Alan K. Knapp (2001) · American Journal of Botany
C3 shrub expansion in a C4 grassland: positive post‐fire responses in resources and shoot growth
James K. McCarron, Alan K. Knapp (2003) · American Journal of Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cornus 12 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.