Cornus multinervosa
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Hugh and Judy Johnson
Credits
Martin Deasy, Dan Crowley, Jack Aldridge & Răzvan Chişu (2026)
Recommended citation
Deasy, M., Crowley, D., Aldridge, J. & Chişu, R. (2026), 'Cornus multinervosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Cynoxylon multinervosum Pojarkova
- Dendrobenthamia multinervosa (Pojarkova) W.P.Fang
Other taxa in genus
- Cornus alba
- Cornus alternifolia
- Cornus amomum
- Cornus × arnoldiana
- Cornus asperifolia
- Cornus bretschneideri
- Cornus californica
- Cornus canadensis
- Cornus capitata
- Cornus chinensis
- Cornus controversa
- Cornus coreana
- Cornus darvasica
- Cornus disciflora
- Cornus drummondii
- Cornus × dunbarii
- Cornus elliptica
- Cornus × elwinortonii
- Cornus excelsa
- Cornus eydeana
- Cornus florida
- Cornus florida Cultivars A-G
- Cornus florida Cultivars H-M
- Cornus florida Cultivars N-R
- Cornus florida Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus foemina
- Cornus glabrata
- Cornus × haddenii
- Cornus hemsleyi
- Cornus hongkongensis
- Cornus hongkongensis hybrids
- Cornus × horseyi
- Cornus iberica
- Cornus kousa
- Cornus kousa Cultivars A-D
- Cornus kousa Cultivars E-I
- Cornus kousa Cultivars J-L
- Cornus kousa Cultivars M-R
- Cornus kousa Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus macrophylla
- Cornus mas
- Cornus mas Cultivars A-G
- Cornus mas Cultivars H-M
- Cornus mas Cultivars N-R
- Cornus mas Cultivars S-Z
- Cornus 'Mountain Moon'
- Cornus nuttallii
- Cornus obliqua
- Cornus oblonga
- Cornus officinalis
- Cornus poliophylla
- Cornus 'Pumila'
- Cornus quinquenervis
- Cornus racemosa
- Cornus rugosa
- Cornus × rutgersensis
- Cornus sanguinea
- Cornus scabrida
- Cornus sericea
- Cornus sessilis
- Cornus × slavinii
- Cornus suecica
- Cornus sunhangii
- Cornus × transamericana
- Cornus unalaschkensis
- Cornus walteri
- Cornus wardiana
- Cornus wilsoniana
Deciduous tree to 8(–15) m. Bark dark brown. Branchlets green or purplish-green, with white, appressed trichomes, becoming glabrous and greyish-purple to greyish-brown, lenticels white, elliptic. Buds globose, covered by two pairs of scales. Leaves 6–13 × 3–6 cm, chartaceous, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, base cuneate, rarely oblique, upper surface green, lower surface pale green, pubescent with appressed, white trichomes at least at first, (five to) six (to seven) secondary veins on each side of the midvein, margins entire, sometimes undulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence dense capitate cymes, globose, ~1 cm diameter, 30–45-flowered; bracts large, petal-like, white or yellowish, ovate to elliptic. Flowers hermaphrodite, petals narrowly elliptic, ~0.25 cm long. Compound fruits globose, 1.2–1.6 cm diameter, red at maturity, peduncle 7–10 cm, usually without a thickened ring at base. Flowering May to June, fruiting October to November (China). (Xiang & Boufford 2005).
Distribution China Sichuan, Yunnan
Habitat Mixed woods between 900 and 2700 m asl.
USDA Hardiness Zone 7-8
RHS Hardiness Rating H5
Conservation status Least concern (LC)
Cornus multinervosa is a little-known Chinese species with a restricted distribution in Yunnan and Sichuan. With fleshy compound fruits and showy bracts, it is one of two deciduous species in the ‘strawberry-fruited’ East Asian subgenus Syncarpea, resembling a form of C. kousa with more leaf veins (usually exceeding five pairs), all of which reach nearly to the apex of the leaf; like C. kousa its buds are enclosed with protective bracts. These characters are clearly seen on E. H. Wilson’s specimens collected in 1908 by in Washan, western Sichuan in thickets at 1200–2200 m asl, W 223b (Smithsonian Herbarium 03101682; RBG Edinburgh Herbarium E01598803).
The species is extremely rare in cultivation, the species is represented in Britain by plants from a single collection by Mikinori Ogisu from Yingjing Niba Shan, Sichuan at 2370 m (Ogisu 95107), grown in several specialist collections, including Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Acc. 1996–1409), Westonbirt Arboretum, and a fine specimen at Newby Hall, North Yorkshire.
