Cornus amomum
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Cornus amomum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Swida amomum (Mill.) Small
Other taxa in genus
- C obliqua
- Cornus alba
- Cornus alternifolia
- Cornus asperifolia
- Cornus australis
- Cornus baileyi
- Cornus capitata
- Cornus chinensis
- Cornus chinensis
- Cornus controversa
- Cornus × dunbarii
- Cornus florida
- Cornus glabrata
- Cornus hemsleyi
- Cornus hongkongensis
- Cornus × horseyi
- Cornus macrophylla
- Cornus mas
- Cornus monbeigii
- Cornus nuttallii
- Cornus occidentalis
- Cornus paucinervis
- Cornus racemosa
- Cornus rugosa
- Cornus sanguinea
- Cornus schindleri
- Cornus sessilis
- Cornus stolonifera
- Cornus wilsoniana
- drummondii
Distribution United States Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virgina, West Virgiana
A deciduous shrub of compact habit, up to 10 ft high; young bark downy, becoming purple. Leaves ovate, mostly rounded at the base, with short, abrupt points; 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 21⁄4 in. wide; dark green and soon becoming glabrous above, paler and with silky down beneath, especially on the veins, the down often becoming rusty or tawny, stalks similarly downy, 1⁄4 to 2⁄3 in. long; veins in four to seven pairs. Flowers small, yellowish white, produced in July in cymes 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. across. Fruit 1⁄4 in. across, pale blue.
Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1683. A shrub thriving well in our climate, but of no especial value. Its distinctive characters are its purple young wood with brown pith, the silky reddish down beneath the leaf, and the pale blue fruits.