Native Plants

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Wednesday - October 24, 2012

From: Snyder, CO
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Pollinators, Propagation, Shrubs
Title: Dogwoods cross-pollinating from Snyder, CO
Answered by: Barbara Medford and Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

I have a red twig and a yellow twig dogwood. Will they cross-pollinate to produce berries? Thank you

ANSWER:

Cornus sericea (Redosier dogwood) is native to North America including Colorado, and one common name for it is red twig dogwood. It is pollinated by a "specialist" pollinator, the short-tongued bee, Andrena fragutis, but may also be pollinated with the aid of wind or a pollinator such as butterflies, other bees, even birds. If you follow this plant link, Cornus sericea (Redosier dogwood), to our webpage on the plant, you will learn that the showy white flowers are followed by umbrella-shaped clusters of pea-sized white berries.

Yellow twig dogwood is a yellow-stemmed form of red twig dogwood. In horticulture, a commonly-found cultivar is Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea' (referenced in some literature as Cornus stolonifera 'Flaviramea').

Since red twig dogwood and yellow twig dogwood are the same species, each will produce fruit from pollination with the other plant. The resulting plants grown from the seeds of those plants will very likely all be red-stemmed due to genetic factors.

From the Image Gallery

Red osier dogwood
Cornus sericea