Seasonal Wild Flowers

Cornelian-cherry

Cornus mas

Cornaceae

February to March

Naturalised trees are thinly scattered throughout the country.

See the BSBI distribution map for Cornelian Cherry

It is a neophyte which was introduced into the Uk around 1600,

and is widely planted in gardens and parks.

Bird-sown escapes occasionally become naturalised in woods,

hedges and scrub-land, and beside roads and paths.

Naturalised trees have been known since the 1920s.

Cornelian-cherry is a small tree, which flowers early in the year.

Flowers are in clusters with 4 bright, yellow-green bracts.

Leaves are dark green, oval and pointed.

It has red and orange berries, but rarely in England.

Flowers on branch in late February

Close-up of flowers

Leaves, after the flowers