Cornus can be deciduous shrubs or trees, or creeping, woody-based perennials, some with brightly coloured young stems. Tiny flowers are borne in dense clusters, sometimes with showy bracts. Many have fine autumn colour
'Elegantissima' is a bushy deciduous medium-sized shrub to 3m, with deep red stems and grey-green, white-margined narrowly ovate leaves to 10cm in length. Flowers small, creamy-white, in flat heads; berries white