Wednesday Street Tree #17
Cornelian cherry
On the surface, there’s not much to report from the world of street trees in January, but look closely and things are beginning to stir… One of the things stirring right now is the wonderful Cornus mas or the cornelian cherry. Being a Cornus, or a dogwood, it is often a shrub, sometimes a small tree, and only a very occasional street tree. The wonderful thing about cornelian cherries are the flowers which are small and a striking acid yellow – very un-cherry like – which appear in January and February. It is the fruits which are more cherry-like, they ripen to a bright red oval drupe, rather like a rosehip and are, apparently, edible, although not something I have tasted.
What is it?
Cornelian cherry
Cornus mas
Where is it?
Finsbury Park Road, London N4 2LA
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As you go East and arrive in Turkey, southern Russia or the Caucasus you find varieties of Cornelian Cherry with large and very tasty fruits. They’re called kizil in both Turkish and Russian. Our cornels have no use today but they used to be very important for jams and jellies. In the new world the name even graces one of America’s most famous universities.
Paul: just spotted these comments rather late in the day. Spelling is relative - one L or two it sounds the same. Michael's right: the founder was a Mr Ezra Cornell, but his name most certainly came from the tree - wherever it was he came from.