danbadlands's Identifications

Silky Dogwood (Kinnikinnik) - Cornus amomum (Swida amomum)
Location: Durham NC (USA)
Series for documenting ID of this shrubby dogwood.
The other shrubby opposite-leaved dogwood in my area is Cornus foemina (=Swida foemina, sometimes listed as C./S. stricta). Keying these two definitively is a bit challenging, but here I have a detail photo of the 2nd and 3rd year twigs showing the brown pith characteristic of amomum (Cook, Radford). Weakley differentiates those two based on veins 5 or more per leaf side (amomum and others) vs. veins usually 3-4 per leaf side (foemina, etc). Weakley also differentiates amomum from the rather similar obliqua (not known from North Carolina) based on details of trichomes on underside of the leaves, as well as leaf shape. This specimen is consistent with amomum.

References

• Cook, Will, Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina (2015): www.carolinanature.com/trees/coam2.html
• Flora of North America: www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=2...
• Foote and Jones, Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Timber Press, 1989), p. 101, plate 36
• Newcomb and Morrison, Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Little, Brown; 1977), pp. 166-7
• Radford et al., Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (UNC Press, 1968), pp. 790-792
• Weakley, Flora of the Southern United States (UNC Herbarium, 2020) p. 1129