Cornus 'Mountain Moon'

One of sixteen seedlings selected by Japanese nurseryman Akira Shibamichi, apparently raised from a collection made in Bhutan (B. Yinger, pers. comm. 2026). This is an outstanding cultivar, with exceptionally large, reflexed bracts and large fruit. It was introduced to North America by Barry Yinger, who first met Shibamichi in 1972 while studying in Japan – together they coined the name ‘Mountain Moon’. The cultivar was subsequently offered by Piroche Plants, British Columbia (Jacobson 1996). Yinger believes that more than one clone circulates under the name ‘Mountain Moon’, of similar provenance (pers. comm. 2026).

Although widely attributed to Cornus capitata, these plants differ from the typical form in their lustrous (not dull) leaves and the shape of the bracts, approaching C. elliptica in both characters (Dirr & Warren 2019). While it is true that ‘Mountain Moon’ lacks the dense, rough pubescence found on the leaf undersides in both those species, the smooth, sparsely pubescent abaxial surfaces in ‘Mountain Moon’ correspond to the condition described by Xiang and Boufford (2005) from so-called ‘intermediates’ between C. elliptica and C. capitata where their ranges overlap in western China. Du et al. (2023) supported the recognition of these sparsely pubescent populations at species rank, under the reinstated species C. brevipedunculata nom. ined. (publication pending). The possibility that ‘Mountain Moon’, its Bhutanese origin notwithstanding, might belong to this taxon (endemic to Guizhou) should perhaps not be discounted out of hand – it would after all hardly be the first time a widely cited provenance had proved mistaken. However, another intriguing and perhaps more likely possibility is currently in the process of publication and peer review, and will be reported on here in due course.

In Britain, ‘Mountain Moon’ is known from a few plants imported from Shibamichi by Peter Catt of Liss Forest Nursery, Hampshire, UK. One of these, planted in 2009, grows in John and Lynsey Pink’s Hampshire garden, where it is reported hardy and not troubled by frost, and to set seed well; by 2026 its height had exceeded 6.8 m (J. & L. Pink, pers. comm. 2026). The same clone has been sold under the name Cornus elliptica ‘Full Moon’, most recently by Junkers Nursery, Somerset, UK (Junker’s Nursery 2021), who received the plant as ‘Full Moon’ from nurseryman Alan Lewis (Forde Abbey, Dorset), previously a propagator at Spinners Nursery in Lymington, Hampshire, thought to be the source of his material (K. Junker, pers. comm. 2024). Spinners are known to have bought in many plants wholesale from Liss Forest Nursery (P. Catt, pers. comm. 2023), and fact that these plants agree strongly with bona fide material of ‘Mountain Moon’ points to straightforward corruption of the name as the material changed hands.