Dogwood - Cornus sanguinea

Shrub to 4 metres with dark red twigs. Leaves opposite, elliptical to oval pointed untoothed, hairy with 3-4 pairs of main veins. Flowers dull white 8 to 10 mm in umbel like clusters. Fruit almost globose black when ripe.

Several other species are occasionally planted in wild situations 

Wood, scrub and hedgerows.

June and July.

Deciduous. The leaves often turn a rich purple-red in autumn and the bare red shoots are very conspicuous in the winter.

Fairly common in England as far north as Durham, much scarcer in the south-west of England and elsewhere in Britain.

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 416 of the 617 tetrads.