William Turner had only heard of the plant in 1548, but by 1551 he had heard of one at Hampton Court Palace. The shrub was not native to the British Isles. This is Cornus mas Theophrasti, or Theophrastus his male Cornell tree for he ſetteth downe two ſortes of Cornell trees, the male and the female: he maketh the wood of the male to bee ſound as in this Cornell tree which we both for this cauſe and for others alſo, haue made to be the male the female is that which is commonly called Virga ſanguinea, or Dogs berrie tree, and Cornus ſylveſtris, or the wild Cornell tree, of which alſo we will intreate of in the next chap. NameĬornus mas, "male" cornel, was named so to distinguish it from the true dogberry, the "female" cornel, Cornus sanguinea, and so it appears in John Gerard's Herbal: The leaves (and fruit) are used in traditional medicine in Central and Southwest Asia. In Italy, the mazzarella, uncino or bastone, the stick carried by the butteri or mounted herdsmen of the Maremma region, is traditionally made of cornel-wood, there called crognolo or grugnale, dialect forms of Italian: corniolo. The wood's association with weaponry was so well known that the Greek name for it was used as a synonym for "spear" in poetry during the fourth and third centuries BC. This density makes it valuable for crafting into tool handles, parts for machines, etc.Ĭornus mas was used from the seventh century BC onward by Greek craftsmen to construct spears, javelins and bows, the craftsmen considering it far superior to any other wood. mas is extremely dense and, unlike the wood of most other woody plant species, sinks in water. While Cornus mas flowers are not as large and vibrant as those of the Forsythia, the entire plant can be used for a similar effect in the landscape. The species is also grown as an ornamental plant for its late winter yellow flowers, which open earlier than those of Forsythia. officinalis) has a history of use in traditional Chinese medicine in which it is known as shānzhūyú, 山茱萸 and used to retain the jing. The fruit of Cornus mas (together with the fruit of C. In Armenia, Cornus berries are used to make vodka. It is also widely used in Azerbaijan to make pickles, add to rice, or make drinks. It has an acidic flavor which is best described as a mixture of cranberry and sour cherry it is mainly used for making jam. When ripe, the fruit is dark ruby red or a bright yellow. The fruit is edible, as used in Eastern Europe, the UK, and British Columbia, Canada, but the unripe fruit is astringent. When ripe on the plant, they bear a resemblance to coffee berries, and ripen in mid- to late summer. The fruit is an oblong red drupe 2 cm long and 1.5 cm in diameter, containing a single seed. The flowers are small (5–10 mm in diameter), with four yellow petals, produced in clusters of 10–25 together in the late winter (between February and March in the UK), well before the leaves appear. The leaves are opposite, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an ovate to oblong shape and an entire margin. It is a medium to large deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5–12 m tall, with dark brown branches and greenish twigs. (all credits and rights of the Wikipedia source apply)Ĭornus mas, the Cornelian cherry, European cornel or Cornelian cherry dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae, native to Southern Europe and Southwestern Asia.
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