This paper deals with the habitat of Cornus suecica in pine and spruce plantations near Wilhelmshaven (N.W. Germany), one of its southernmost localities in Europe. The table of records represents a transect from open pinewood to a dense, mixed pine-spruce-wood. All the shrubs, as well as the herbs and bryophytes of groups 1 obviously prefer the light wood stand, whereas those of groups 2 and especially 3 are most abundant and fertile in dense shade. Cornus suecica and Trientalis europaea show an opposite behaviour with regard to light, and so do the two closely allied Dryopteris species, D. austriaca and D. spinulosa.