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Dwarf Cornel

Dwarf Cornel

Cornus suecica

Identify the Dwarf Cornel from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Common

Dwarf Cornel is a small northern woodland and bog plant with a striking “false flower”: four white, petal‑like upper leaves around a tight cluster of tiny dark flowers. Later it shows bright red berry‑like fruits. You can spot it in cool, damp places across the boreal and arctic regions.

Did you know?

  • The white “petals” are actually leaves that have turned white to attract pollinators.
  • Birds relish the bright red fruits and help spread the seeds.

About the species

Identification

A low perennial (10–25 cm) spreading by thin underground stems. Upright stem is four‑angled. Leaves grow in pairs, oval and smooth‑edged, about 2–3 cm long. At the top, four white, petal‑like upper leaves surround a tight head of 10–20 tiny, very dark flowers. Later small, shiny red berries (about 5 mm) form in a cluster. Tell it from bunchberry: dwarf cornel has paired leaves, not a wheel of many; from starflower, which has a single starry white flower without the dark center. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

mire

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Grows in cool, moist places such as seashores and shore meadows, open edges of bogs and fens, and light northern woods, including mountain birch woods. Common in most of the country; rarer in central and south‑eastern Finland.

Sources

Photo: Marios Thoma, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6398649602

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Tunturit: tunturikoivikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39166

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruohokanukka

See also