Starlight Dogwood         KOR-nus

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, may reach nearly 30 ft (10 m) tall and 23 ft (7 m) wide, densely branched, upright oval crown.  Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic shape, tip apiculate, margin entire, upper surface glossy green; fall foliage may be reddish.  Inconspicuous true flowers are surrounded by creamy white bracts that are comparable in size to those of C. kousa  Fruit cluster is a round mound with flattened base, orange-red color, most fruit are parthenocarpic (without seed) as the plants are highly cross-sterile, as well as self-incompatible, and hence very few seeds develop.
• Part shade.  Best in well-drained, acid soils high in organic matter.  Disease and insect resistance similar to that of one of its parents, Cornus kousa.
• Hardy to USDA Zone (6)7     From a cross of C. kousa × C. nuttallii by Elwin Orton of Rutgers University (patent, PP16,293), a dogwood hybrid of the Jersey Star™ series.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: several on the west side of Gleeson Hall.