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Cornus flowers
 

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Cornus hemsleyi Schneid. & Wanger.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cornus hemsleyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-hemsleyi/). Accessed 2026-05-10.

Family

  • Cornaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • Swida hemsleyi (Schneid. & Wanger.) Sojak

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
appressed
Lying flat against an object.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cornus hemsleyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-hemsleyi/). Accessed 2026-05-10.

A deciduous shrub up to 12 ft high or sometimes a small tree twice as tall; young shoots downy, becoming glabrous and red the second year. Leaves roundish-ovate; 2 to 3 in. long, 1 to 2 in. wide; rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base, tapered abruptly at the apex to a short slender point; upper surface furnished with short stiff hairs, the lower one greyish white and covered with appressed hairs; midrib and veins darkened with rusty brown down; veins in six to eight pairs; stalk downy like the midrib, 14 to 12 in. long. Flowers small, white with blue anthers, in corymbs 2 to 3 in. across. Fruit globose, blue-black, 316 in. wide.

Native of Hupeh, Szechwan, and other provinces of China. It is one of a crowd of similar cornels with small white flowers. The dark down on the midrib and veins is distinctive. Wilson found a tree 25 ft high with a trunk 1 ft in diameter. Flowers in July.