Brown Dogwood

Cornus glabrata Benth. Bot. Voy. Sulph. 18. 1844
Cornus costulala Jepson, Fl. W. Middle Calif, ed. 2. 306. 1911.
Svida glabrata A. Heller, Cat. N. Am. PI. ed. 3. 273. 1914. (Nomen nudum.)
Svida catalinensis Millsp. Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 5: 189. 1923.
Shrubs, often forming thickets; branchlets brown or reddish, becoming light brown and finally greyish, the pith white; branches sometimes elongated and pendulous; leaf-blades commonly 3-5 cm. long, 1.5-2.5 cm. broad, lanceolate or elliptic, acute, cuneate at the base, almost glabrous on both surfaces, grey-green, the under surface scarcely paler, not papillose; veins 3 or 4 on either side of the midrib and about equally spaced along it; petioles mostly 3-7 mm. long; inflorescence 2.5-4.5 cm. across, flat or somewhat convex, the 3 or 4 primary branches usually clustered but a short central axis sometimes evident, the peduncle almost glabrous, the ultimate branches strigillose; pedicels 2-3 mm. long, strigillose; hypanthium strigillose; sepals 0.S mm. long; petals 4.5-5 mm. long; style 3.5 mm. long; drupes white or bluish, 9 mm. in diameter, the endocarp 5-6 mm. broad, smooth, oblique.
Type locality: San Francisco, California.
Distribution: Siskiyou Mountains of Oregon and California, southward in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and in the Coast Range to Santa Barbara County.

Cornus glabrata is a species of dogwood native to California and Oregon and known by the common names brown dogwood, smooth dogwood, and western cornel. This is a large shrub or thicket-forming bush with bright green leaves which turn red in fall. It bears plentiful clusters of fuzzy white flowers and bluish-white berries. This shrub is most often found near water, usually directly on the bank of a water source.