Cornus kousa

Kousa dogwood is in the dogwood or Cornaceae family, and is native to East Asia including Korea, China and Japan.

• Leaves are opposite, simple, ovate, veins curving in towards the tip of the leaf.
• Species is monoecious. Flowering is about a month later than flowering dogwood (C. florida) of eastern North America; also it has pointed rather than rounded flower bracts. The cultivar C. kousa 'Satomi' has pink flowers rather than white.
• Fruit in early summer is a large compound berry (drupe) 2–3 cm in diameter (i.e., the individual drupes are fused together), mounted on a 4–5 cm stem (flowering dogwood's fruit has small 'cherries'). It is darker purplish initially, becoming pinkish-red by late summer. Fruit is edible.
• In winter, reproductive (flower) buds are heart-shaped; vegetative (leaf) buds resemble a cat claw.
• Bark in young trees is smooth, light brown, becoming exfoliating in older trees.