Bunchberry

Cornus canadensis

Hosts 1 caterpillarBird foodPollinator plant

No openly-licensed photograph of this species is in the catalogue yet. We show a photo only when we can credit the photographer.

Growing it

When	Flowers in June; fruits in August
Type	groundcover
Sun	Partial shade, full shade
Water	Medium, high
Soil	pH 4.5–6
Hardiness	zone 2–6
Mature height	0.15 m
Mature spread	0.3 m
Spacing	0.2 m
Years to maturity	2
Bloom	Jun
Flower colour	White not verified, a genus-level estimate
In bloom	June
Fruit	Aug
Native to	AB, SK

egg-shaped leaves about 5 cm long

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

455 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 93 herbarium specimens and 1,943 field observations this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Western Alberta Upland central AB: 1276 records, high confidence
Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 857 records, high confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 719 records, high confidence
Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 481 records, high confidence
Northern Continental Divide south AB: 434 records, high confidence
Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 410 records, high confidence
Peace Lowland north AB: 90 records, high confidence
Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 88 records, high confidence
Wabasca Lowland north AB: 69 records, high confidence
Slave River Lowland north AB: 25 records, high confidence
Churchill River Upland north SK: 19 records, medium confidence
Western Boreal central AB: 11 records, medium confidence
Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 9 records, medium confidence
Hay River Lowland north AB: 5 records, low confidence
Clear Hills Upland north AB: 4 records, low confidence
Mid-Boreal Lowland central SK: 3 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

52 documented relationships.

pollen for

Andrena melanochroa Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena miranda Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena nivalis Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena rufosignata Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena sigmundi Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena thaspii Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Andrena w-scripta Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Blera confusa Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Chalcosyrphus curvaria Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Chalcosyrphus nemorum Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Confusing Bumble Bee Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Eusphalerum pothos Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Evodinus monticola Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Half-black Bumble Bee Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Halictus confusus Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Hylaeus basalis Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Judolia montivagans Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Large Bee Fly Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Lasioglossum quebecense Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Lygus rufidorsus Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Mallota posticata Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Orsodacne atra Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Orthonevra pulchella Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Osmia proxima Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Parasyrphus relictus Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Phaonia serva Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Pieris napi Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Sarcophaga nearctica Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Temnostoma alternans Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Tricoloured Bumble Bee Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Tropidia quadrata Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987
Yellow-banded Bumble Bee Barrett & K. Helenurm 1987

nectar for

Ammophila aberti Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena milwaukeensis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Arctic Skipper Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Calligrapher Fly Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Clouded Sulphur Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Drone Fly Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Evodinus monticola Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Half-black Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Meliscaeva cinctella Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Northern Crescent Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Polygonia faunus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Sericomyia lata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Sericomyia militaris Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Silvery Blue Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Sphecomyia vittata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Tricoloured Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org

caterpillar host for

Phytomyza agromyzina Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Spring Azure Pohl et al. 2018

fruit for

Cedar Waxwing Cornell Lab of Ornithology

cover for

Woodland Ground Beetles Acorn

Also worth knowing

Safety

Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety

Edible parts

Fruit

Buying it

About $8–$16 per plant (estimate), usually from a native-plant nursery. Estimate (groundcover default); AB retail as of 2026

Where these numbers came from

Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate