Dogwoods Cornus

Of sixteen assessed Cornus species, thirteen are rated fire resistant, two have been assessed without the sources taking a side, and only Siberian dogwood is genuinely contested.

The resistant rating rests mainly on the genus's two most-studied members. Flowering dogwood carries it, described as shade tolerant but intolerant of moisture stress, insects and disease. Redosier dogwood carries it too, listed among deciduous shrubs and needing irrigation through Oregon's dry summer to stay healthy. Giant dogwood and silky dogwood carry the same rating: one noted for size and white summer flowers, the other for blood-red twigs and tolerance of wet ground. Maintenance and irrigation recur across three of these assessments, deciduous foliage across two, tied to those members, not the genus.

Siberian dogwood stands apart: its own handful of assessments do not agree, unlike the steady resistant rating running through the better-studied members. That leaves it the one Cornus species here where the rating stays unsettled.

A different finding comes from the Forest Service's fire-effects review of Pacific dogwood, a related species outside the sixteen assessed here: fire's effect on that tree varies with severity, and low-intensity spring burns through Sierra mixed-conifer forest scorched its foliage but left buds alive under bark the heat did not reach. The review states plainly this is a finding about Pacific dogwood, not the genus. Dogwoods span the family Cornaceae as shrubs, trees and groundcovers, native to the Southeastern, Northeastern, North-Central and South-Central United States. For most dogwoods on a nursery tag, the resistant rating holds; Siberian dogwood is the one worth a second look.