# Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

> A dogwood only a few inches tall, with white four-bracted flowers in late spring, bunches of red berries in late summer and wine-red fall leaves.

Family: Cornaceae (dogwood family). Also called bunchberry dogwood, dwarf dogwood, Canadian dwarf cornel, dwarf cornel, Canadian bunchberry. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bunchberry/

![Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) white four-bracted flowers above whorls of veined green leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/bunchberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACornus_canadensis_Rainy_River.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 6
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, the Appalachians, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK) and 27 other states, north to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), south to [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM) and west to [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA) ([Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY)). Also recorded, not native, in [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR)
- Sun: Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: May to July
- Fruit: Berries, August to October
- First crop: 3 to 5 years (first flowers)
- Mature spread: 1 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Fall color, Tolerates shade, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Bunchberry is one of the smallest dogwoods, a woodland groundcover whose leaves and flowers look like those of our flowering dogwood in miniature. Its upright stems rise from underground runners that can push a patch outward up to a foot a year. Its tiny flowers burst open at a touch and fling their pollen straight up onto visiting insects. Illinois, Indiana and Maryland list it as endangered, and Iowa and Ohio list it as threatened. Give it a cool, moist, shady corner of a woodland garden, where its runners can knit a low carpet under trees and shrubs.

## Size, growth and what to expect

It grows slowly, a few inches a year in our growth estimator. Its stems stand 4 to 10 inches tall, and one plant covers 6 inches to a foot. The leaves sit in a whorl of four to six atop each stem, glossy green in summer and red to purple in fall. Seedlings first flower in their third to fifth year.

Four white bracts open around a tight knot of tiny greenish flowers from May to July, and bees and flies carry the pollen. Clusters of bright red berries, about a quarter inch across, ripen in August and can last into October unless birds take them first. Bears, small mammals and many birds eat the berries, and moose, deer, elk and caribou browse the plant.

It grows wild from Greenland across Canada and Alaska to northeastern Asia. In the lower 48 states it holds to the northern tier, reaching south to Maryland, the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota, and down the Rockies to New Mexico. Its home is cool, moist conifer and mixed woods, thickets, cedar swamps and bog edges.

## How to grow Bunchberry

Bunchberry grows in part shade or shade, in dappled light under trees, and it flowers and fruits more freely with some light. It needs a cool, moist, well-drained soil rich in humus and on the acid side, and it takes neither lime nor drying out. It does best in cool to cold climates and does poorly where summers are hot. It will not stand foot traffic. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in spring or fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or peat, clear of the stems. Sow fresh seed outdoors in fall, on the surface of the soil. For spring, hold the damp seed in the refrigerator for 90 to 150 days first, and do not let it dry. Seed buried under even a little litter seldom sprouts.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers, and never let the soil dry out. It can be difficult to establish, so keep young plants evenly moist under their mulch.

Bunchberry cannot set fruit with its own pollen, and a patch spreading from one plant is a single clone, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents for berries. No serious pests or diseases trouble it, though a stressed plant is open to leaf spot, powdery mildew, canker and root rot. The berries are edible but nearly flavorless.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Cornus canadensis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cornus-canadensis/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Cornus canadensis](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279331)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Cornus canadensis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COCA13)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Cornus canadensis, Gucker 2012](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/corcan/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Celebrating Wildflowers, Plant of the Week: Dwarf Dogwood](https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/cornus-canadensis)
- [Native Plant Network: propagation protocol for Cornus canadensis, Glacier National Park](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=cornaceae-cornus-60)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Cornus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Cornus.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 12: Cornus canadensis](http://floranorthamerica.org/Cornus_canadensis)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Chamaepericlymenum canadense, bunchberry](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/chamaepericlymenum/canadense/)
- [Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board: Checklist of Endangered and Threatened Animals and Plants of Illinois, IDNR rev. 10/31/2025](https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/espb/documents/et-list-review-and-revision/2025-illinois-list-revision/2025-e-t-checklist.pdf)
- [Indiana Department of Natural Resources: Endangered, Threatened, and Extirpated Plants of Indiana, 10/29/2025](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf)
- [Maryland Natural Heritage Program: List of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland, March 2021](https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/rte_Plant_List.pdf)
- [Iowa Administrative Code 571, chapter 77: Endangered and Threatened Plant and Animal Species, effective June 17, 2026](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/571.77.pdf)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Rare Native Ohio Plants, 2024-25 Status List](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Cornus canadensis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.136853/Cornus_canadensis)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Low native shrubs and groundcovers for sun, shade, sand and bog](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/low-native-shrubs-and-groundcovers/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)

## Related

- We grow 9 other dogwoods (Cornus): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=cornus)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Canada Yew](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/canada-yew/index.html.md), [Squashberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/squashberry/index.html.md), [Pinxterbloom Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pinxterbloom-azalea/index.html.md) and [Trailing Arbutus](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/trailing-arbutus/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Balsam Fir](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-fir/index.html.md), [Yellow Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-birch/index.html.md) and [Sourwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sourwood/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Red Osier Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-osier-dogwood/index.html.md), [Roughleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roughleaf-dogwood/index.html.md), [Gray Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/gray-dogwood/index.html.md) and [Roundleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roundleaf-dogwood/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Bunchberry, add ?species=bunchberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 2, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=bunchberry&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Bunchberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=bunchberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Bunchberry as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=bunchberry (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Bunchberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=bunchberry (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Bunchberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=bunchberry:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Bunchberry where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=bunchberry&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Bunchberry goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=bunchberry&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Bunchberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=bunchberry