A few days later the hillside on which he was camping was thrown into the river by the shock of the earthquake and he barely escaped with his life. Collecting near Rima, where the Tsangpo emerges from the Himalaya, his attention was caught by a dogwood that resembled Cornus mas but was ‘taller, with a smooth, palm-like stem and much larger mops, composed of more numerous flowers, of a luminous sulphur-yellow’. For the late Frank Kingdon Ward, this species always called to memory the great Assam earthquake of 1950. officinalis by the whitish-grey indumentum of the under-surface of the leaves and from both species by its longer, more tapered sepals and the black fruits. It is occasionally 30 ft high in Japan.Ĭ. mas, except that the habit is perhaps coarser. When in flower it is not distinguishable from C. It has also two additional (five to seven) pairs of veins to each leaf. It has the same yellow flowers and red fruits, but it differs in having in addition to the flat hairs attached by their centres, conspicuous patches of dense, rusty-coloured down beneath the leaves, in and near the vein-axils. mas a Japanese and Korean species, it is seldom seen in gardens. There are also forms with yellow, purplish and white fruits, but these are not of much interest in this country, where the tree is shy-fruiting.Ĭ.

– Similar to ‘Aurea Elegantissima’, but with creamy-white variegation. nana, Carrière included under it two clones: one, making a small spherical bush, derived from a yellow-fruited form of the species the other, similar in habit, had stouter shoots clad with short hairs and tinged red, especially near the leaf insertions.Ĭv. when shown by Lee of Hammersmith in 1872 and probably originated with them.į. – Leaves prettily variegated, having a wide unequal border of yellow, some entirely yellow others tinged with pink. The following varieties are in cultivation:Ĭv. The fruit also used to be made into a rob (syrup) or preserve. It was formerly, if not now, much used on the continent for small articles in domestic use. The wood, although limited in quantity, has considerable value because of its tough, hard, durable nature. The fruit is handsome, but not, in my experience, freely borne. As it is without foliage when in bloom, it is a great advantage if it can be associated with some evergreen, such as holly. It is still one of the most valuable we have. Before the introduction of the Japanese witch hazels the Cornelian cherry was the most effective of yellow-flowering shrubs in bloom as early as February. Native of Europe, cultivated for centuries in Britain. wide, indented at the apex, of good acid flavour.

Fruit a bright red, oblong drupe 5⁄ 8 in. across, enclosed before opening in four downy, boat-shaped bracts. diameter, yellow, produced in February and March on the leafless stems in short-stalked umbels from the joints of the previous year’s wood, each umbel about 3⁄ 4 in. wide (sometimes considerably larger on strong shoots) apex slender-pointed base tapered or rounded dark dull green, both surfaces furnished with centrally attached, flattened hairs veins in three to five pairs stalk 1⁄ 4 in. A deciduous shrub or small tree sometimes 45 ft high, of spreading, rather open habit young branchlets covered with minute, flattened, greyish hairs.

Cornus mas in leaf