Cornus unalaschkensis

Cornus unalaschkensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Cornales
Family: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus
Species: C. unalaschkensis
Binomial name
Cornus unalaschkensis
Ledeb.[1]
Synonyms[1][2][3]
  • Arctocrania × unalaschkensis (Ledeb.) Nakai
  • Chamaepericlymenum unalaschkense (Ledeb.) Rydb.
  • Cornella unalaschkensis (Ledeb.) Rydb.
  • Cornella × unalaschkensis (Ledeb.) Rydb.
  • Cornus × intermedia (Farr) Calder & R.L.Taylor
  • Cornus × lepagei Gervais & Blondeau

Cornus unalaschkensis is a species of flowering plant in the Cornaceae, the dogwood family. Common names for the plant include Alaskan bunchberry,[2] western cordilleran bunchberry,[4][5][6] or simply western bunchberry.[7]

The species is native to the west coast of North America from Alaska to California,[4] as well as Magadan in Russia.[8] In the northwestern United States it is a common plant,[9] even abundant.[7]

This is a rhizomatous subshrub with stems up to 20 centimeters tall. Leaves are borne in a whorl and are oval in shape and up to 8 centimeters long.[7] The leaves are hairless to hairy.[2] Flowers are borne in a cyme inflorescence, but are much smaller than the four white or pinkish bracts surrounding them. These bracts are 1 or 2 centimeters long; the petals at the center are only about a millimeter long. The fruit is a bright red drupe 6 to 8 millimeters in length.[7]

Its habitat includes forests and bogs, especially with layers of decaying matter.[10]

The taxonomy of this plant is not entirely certain.[11] This particular plant is not always considered a species in its own right. It is sometimes called a hybrid, or Cornus × unalaschkensis.[12] Sometimes it is listed as the same species as Cornus canadensis.[10] However, many authors consider it to be an allopolyploid, with chromosomes descended from C. canadensis and C. suecica.[2][8] The three species can be told apart by careful examination of the petal and leaf morphology.[2] Also, C. unalaschensis does not usually grow in the same regions as the other two plants.[2]

The fruit of this plant is edible, and has been used for food by various Native American groups, such as the Bella Coola and Kitasoo. For example, the Haisla mixed the berries with oolichan grease and served the mash for dessert.[5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cornus unalaschkensis.

References

  1. 1 2 Cornus unalaschkensis was originally described and published in Flora Rossica 2: 378. 1844. "Name - Cornus unalaschkensis Lebed.". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sinclair, Walter Bruce (2013). Klinkenberg, Brian, ed. "E-Flora Atlas page for Cornus unalaschkensis Ledeb.". E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ Cornus unalaschkensis, treated as Cornus × unalaschkensis "TPL, treatment of Cornus × unalaschkensis Ledeb.". The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Profile for Cornus unalaschkensis Ledeb. (western cordilleran bunchberry)". PLANTS Database. USDA, NRCS. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Dan Moerman. "Search for Cornus unalaschkensis". Native American Ethnobotany Database. Dearborn, Michigan: University of Michigan. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ "ITIS Standard Report Page:Cornus unalaschkensis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database. March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 David Giblin (2013). "WTU Herbarium Image Collection – Burke Museum page for Cornus unalaschkensis (western bunchberry)". University of Washington, Seattle, WA: Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and the Washington Native Plant Society. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  8. 1 2 GRIN (May 15, 2009). "Cornus unalaschkensis information from NPGS/GRIN". Taxonomy for Plants. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Retrieved March 9, 2013. Comment: probably of hybrid origin, C. canadensis × C. suecica
  9. ↑ Mark Turner. "Cornus unaiaschkensis [sic] - bunchberry - Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest". Bellingham,WA: Turner Photographics. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  10. 1 2 James Ellingboe (photographs) (2000–2013). "Washington Native Plant Society: Photograph of Cornus unalaschkensis". Washington Native Plant Society. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  11. ↑ Murrell, Z. E. (1994). "Dwarf dogwoods: Intermediacy and the morphological landscape". Systematic Botany. American Society of Plant Taxonomists. 19 (4): 539–56. doi:10.2307/2419776.
  12. ↑ R. Govaerts (ed.). "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew page for Cornus × unalaschkensis Ledeb.". Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
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