Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Gray Dogwood

Finally figured out what this is.  I saw these white berries on this woody plant that I didn't recognize.  They looked like Doll's Eyes (a/k/a White Baneberry) but the leaves weren't right.  Then I thought they must be a viburnum of some sort since the stems carrying the berries were bright red like the Nannyberry.  All of the viburnums I could find native to the area have red or black berries.  I let the search drop for a couple of days and considered tying a ribbon to the stems so I could find them next spring.  I've done that w/ a couple of plants over the years so I could view them through their yearly cycle.  Sometimes the clue to what it is comes from when it leafs out in the spring, it's flowers, or even the fungi that use it for a host.  Did another on-line search today but dropped the word 'shrub'.  Voila!  It's a young Gray Dogwood (a/k/a Northern Swamp Dogwood, Panicled Dogwood).  Read up on it and it sounds like a very beneficial tree.  Sites I checked said the berries are rarely seen since they are a fav of birds and other woodland denizens.  When they flower in the spring they attract bees and butterflies.  They form thickets and are supposedly easy to propogate by cutting off a branch and sticking it in the ground.  Might try that in the spring.  Anyway, they are another entry on my 'New Species" list for 2023.  So glad I didn't follow the proposal from the DNR to kill everything on these ridge top acres in order to plant a monoculture of pines.

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