Origins

• The kousa dogwood species naturally grows across China, Korea and Japan. It is found in mixed woods in valleys, shaded slopes and along streamsides and roads at elevations between sea level and 7,000 feet. Because of its wide natural range across three different geopolitical areas, common names such as Chinese flowering dogwood, Korean flowering dogwood and Japanese flowering dogwood all carry merit.
  
  

Types

• Two subspecies of kousa dogwood exist and lead to more succinct reference of common names. Subspecies kousa grows in Japan and Korea, and is most appropriately referred to only as Japanese or Korean flowering dogwood. Its leaves are thinner and more paperlike, and the pores on smooth branch twigs look like thin lines. The other subspecies, chinensis, grows naturally in China, and therefore best called Chinese flowering dogwood. This subspecies' leaves become a bit thicker and the twig pores are obviously rounded and occur more densely in number. Both subspecies contain a natural form, rosea, which yields pink flower bracts rather than the usual white.
  
  

American Common Names

• To avoid confusion and ambiguity when discussing decorative flowering dogwood trees that grow in temperate climates across the United States, horticulturists and authors more frequently use the name kousa dogwood. There is little ambiguity of the name kousa, as it is the scientific species epithet in the botanical name. However, it's not odd for people to also refer to the kousa dogwood as either the Japanese or Chinese dogwood tree. Asking for the botanical name definitely clarifies and ensures such a common name indeed does refer to Cornus kousa. Several other dogwood tree and shrub species hail from China and Japan.
  
  

Names in Other Languages

• The University of Melbourne's Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database lists how the kousa dogwood is commonly named in other countries. In China, the tree is phonetically "si zhao hua" while in Japan it is "yama boushi." The French refer to this tree as "cornouiller kousa," the Germans as "Japanischer Blütenhartriegel" and in Poland it is "deren kousa." Spanish-speaking nations call the kousa dogwood "cornejo japones."
  
  

Cultivar Names

• Numerous cultivars exist of the kousa dogwood, displaying different ornamental qualities than the wild species. Horticulturists propagate these special plants asexually to make clones that display the precise same ornamental features that found them favor for use in gardens. Usually, the cultivar name precedes the name kousa dogwood in the common name. For example, the cultivar "Satomi" may be referred to as the Satomi kousa dogwood, or simply as the Satomi dogwood.