Species
+

Cornus kousa Bürger ex Hance

Chinese Dogwood, Japanese Dogwood, Korean Dogwood, Kousa

Climate known 59 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cornus kousa is a small deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Cornaceae. Common names include kousa, kousa dogwood, Chinese dogwood, Korean dogwood, and Japanese dogwood.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cornus kousa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cornus

Cornus is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and some species are evergreen. Several species have small heads of inconspicuous flowers surrounded by an involucre of large, typically white petal-like bracts, while others have more open clusters of petal-bearing flowers. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cornus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cornaceae
Described by
Bürger ex Hance
Native to
China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central +6
Wild records
914 in range· 572 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Aug, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1665mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 277 mm (CHELSA)
Light
15–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1665 mm a year, wettest July at 277 mm, driest December at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -5.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Benthamia japonica Siebold & Zucc.; Benthamia kousa (Bürger ex Hance) Nakai; Benthamidia japonica (Siebold & Zucc.) H.Hara; Cornus japonica (Siebold & Zucc.) Koehne; Cornus kousa Bürger and 8 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1199 mm of 1665 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.2 °C against a yearly mean of 12.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1665 mm a year, wettest July at 277 mm, driest December at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1665 mm a year at the habitat, 1199 mm of it May to October. Wettest month July at 277 mm, driest December at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1209 mm to 2793 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -5.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -5.6 °C, the absolute minimum -10.8 °C, about 91 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -3.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -9.0 °C to 2.0 °C), warmest day 27.3 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 4 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Aug; mean night from -4 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1665 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 739 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -10.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-10.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 15–35RH 59–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 739 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / -0–85 / 1–1010 / 5–1415 / 12–2020 / 17–2523 / 20–2826 / 23–3027 / 24–3024 / 21–2618 / 15–2112 / 9–167 / 3–11
Night °C-4 / -9–2-3 / -8–31 / -3–66 / 3–1112 / 8–1616 / 13–2021 / 17–2321 / 18–2417 / 14–2010 / 7–154 / 0–9-1 / -6–4
Rain mm55 / 20–21763 / 24–181101 / 47–199122 / 72–199150 / 97–244208 / 136–331277 / 170–407232 / 144–366207 / 121–325125 / 52–22479 / 43–22146 / 20–203
DLI16 / 14–1922 / 18–2427 / 22–2933 / 27–3535 / 30–3733 / 28–3531 / 28–3431 / 28–3426 / 23–2822 / 18–2517 / 15–1915 / 13–17
RH %59 / 54–6659 / 54–6559 / 55–6359 / 55–6260 / 57–6464 / 60–6867 / 63–7166 / 62–6964 / 61–6861 / 57–6560 / 56–6459 / 55–64

Each figure is the median across the 739 grid cells holding the 899 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1087:6384 (35.625, 139.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -10.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 739 distinct grid cells holding the 899 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1087:6384 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.50_139.375, lapse-corrected +137 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 370 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, East Himalaya· introduced: Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker35.524, 139.153 · in the densest population, 412 records (45% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 914 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 572 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 592 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 15 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 914 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousaCornus kousa

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Jacy Chen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cornus kousa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Characterization, Quantification, and Bioactivities of Anthocyanins in Cornus Species
Navindra P. Seeram, Robert E. Schutzki, Amitabh Chandra, Muraleedharan G. Nair (2002) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Anthocyanins in Cornus alternifolia, Cornus controversa, Cornus kousa and Cornus florida fruits with health benefits
Shaiju K. Vareed, Muntha K. Reddy, Robert E. Schutzki, Muraleedharan G. Nair (2005) · Life Sciences
Lignans from the fruits of cornus kousa burg. and their cytotoxic effects on human cancer cell lines
Dae‐Young Lee, Myoung‐Chong Song, Ki-Hyun Yoo, Myun‐Ho Bang (2007) · Archives of Pharmacal Research
Inhibitory effects of Korean plants on HIV‐1 activities
Byung Sun Min, Young Ho Kim, Miyuki Tomiyama, Norio Nakamura (2001) · Phytotherapy Research
Lipid peroxidation, cyclooxygenase enzyme and tumor cell proliferation inhibitory compounds in Cornus kousa fruits
Shaiju K. Vareed, Robert E. Schutzki, Muraleedharan G. Nair (2006) · Phytomedicine
Isolation of Flavonoids from the Fruits of Cornus kousa Burg.
D.Y. Lee, Ha-Na Lyu, Ho‐Young Kwak, Louis Jung (2007) · Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
CYTOTOXIC TRITERPENOIDS FROM Cornus kousa FRUITS
Dae‐Young Lee, Lakoon Jung, Jihae Park, Ki-Hyun Yoo (2010) · Chemistry of Natural Compounds
Cornus kousa F.Buerger ex Miquel increases glucose uptake through activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and insulin sensitization
Dae‐Young Kim, Kwang-Kyun Park, Sang Kook Lee, Seung Eun Lee (2010) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Preplant Lime and Micronutrient Amendments to Pine Bark Affect Growth of Seedlings of Nine Container-grown Tree Species
Amy N. Wright, Alex X. Niemiera, J. Roger Harris, Robert D. Wright (1999) · HortScience

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cornus 12 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 119 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.