# Roundleaf Dogwood (Cornus rugosa) > A shade-tolerant northern dogwood with nearly round, wrinkled leaves, flat clusters of white flowers and pale blue berries on red stalks. Also called round-leaved dogwood, roundleaf cornel, Cornus circinata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roundleaf-dogwood/ ![Roundleaf dogwood (Cornus rugosa) flat clusters of small white flowers among broad, rounded leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/roundleaf-dogwood-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Gilles Ayotte, CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACornus_rugosa_15-p.bot-cornus.rugo-16.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 3 to 10 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 8 - Grows wild in: The forest understory, rich moist slopes and rocky ground - Native range: 22 states and the District of Columbia, north and west to North Dakota and south to Kentucky (Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia) - Sun: Part, Shade - Soil moisture: Average, Dry - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Tolerates shade, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Roundleaf dogwood is a thicket-forming shrub of northern woods, from the Maritime provinces and Quebec to Manitoba and south to Virginia, West Virginia and Iowa. Its broad, nearly round leaves have deep veins that give them a wrinkled look, and they are soft with hairs beneath. It grows in the understory of hardwood and mixed forests. It also grows on rocky slopes and along streams, in part to full shade. Maryland lists it as endangered, Indiana as threatened and Ohio as potentially threatened. Give it part shade at a woodland edge or under open trees. ## Size, growth and what to expect It grows at a medium rate, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. It makes a shrub 3 to 10 feet tall, sometimes taller, with green to purplish, warty stems. Its leaves are 2 to 6 inches long and nearly as wide, dark green above and pale and soft with hairs beneath. Seedlings first bear fruit at 2 to 6 years, once the plant is about 3 feet tall. Flat clusters of small, creamy white flowers about 2 inches across open from May into July. Pale blue berries about a quarter inch across ripen from late August into October, on stalks that turn red. It grows wild on wooded slopes, rocky ground, stream banks and lake shores. It is found from the Maritime provinces and Quebec west to Manitoba and North Dakota, and south to Virginia, West Virginia and Iowa. It has vanished from Tennessee. ## How to grow Roundleaf Dogwood Roundleaf dogwood grows in part shade or shade and does best under a thin canopy or at a woodland edge. It takes dry soil as well as a well-drained sandy loam. Plant it 5 feet from a wall and set plants 5 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the native soil back in. Clean the pulp off the stones and sow them outdoors in fall, a quarter to half an inch deep, and mulch the bed over winter. Seedlings come up the next spring. Stored stones need about three months damp in the refrigerator before a spring sowing. Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. Its spreading roots send up suckers and build a colony. Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. It is a larval host for the spring azure butterfly. ## Sources - [Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Forestry: Roundleaf Dogwood](https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/iowa_trees/trees/roundleaf_dogwood.html) - [Flora of North America, vol. 12: Cornus rugosa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250101782) - [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Cornus rugosa](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-rugosa/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Cornus rugosa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CORU) - [Minnesota Wildflowers: Cornus rugosa, Round-leaved Dogwood](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/round-leaved-dogwood) - [Natural Resources Canada, Canada's Plant Hardiness Site: Cornus rugosa](https://planthardiness.gc.ca/index.php?m=7&speciesid=3082245&lang=en) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Cornus chapter, Brinkman and Vankus](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Cornus.pdf) - [NatureServe Explorer: Cornus rugosa, Roundleaf Dogwood](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.147218/Cornus_rugosa) - [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) - [Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves: Indiana endangered, threatened and rare plants, 2025](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf) - [Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas: 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) - [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia: Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf) - [West Virginia Natural Heritage Program: Rare Plants tracked, 4 August 2020](http://wvdnr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/RTE_Plants.pdf) ## 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) - [Native trees for insects: the beetles, wasps, cicadas and fireflies that everything else eats](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-insects/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Roundleaf Dogwood, add ?species=roundleaf-dogwood with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=roundleaf-dogwood&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Roundleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=roundleaf-dogwood): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=roundleaf-dogwood - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Roundleaf Dogwood is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=roundleaf-dogwood - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Roundleaf Dogwood needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=roundleaf-dogwood:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Roundleaf Dogwood flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.