Solitary shrub 1-3(-5) m; young twigs loosely pubescent, later ±glabrate and becoming maroon, the pith dark brown; old bark fissuring; infl a flat to somewhat rounded cyme; sep 1-2 mm; distal 1 mm of style abruptly thickened to twice the diameter below; fr blue, 6-9 mm; stone strongly ridged; 2n=22. Moist or wet woods and along streams; Me. and Que. to Minn., s. to Ga., Ark., and Okla. May-July. Two well marked geographic vars. (see also Cornus obliqua)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Our only specimens are from the bank of the Ohio River in Crawford and Jefferson Counties.