cornelian cherry

Photo: B.navez — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Tart — cranberry meets sour cherry; astringent unripe, best cooked.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late Aug–Sept

Mature size

Shrub/small tree 4–7 m

Light

Full sun to partial — best fruit in sun

Soil pH

5.5–7.5

Environment

Woodland

Native range

Southern and central Europe and south-west Asia — from France and Italy east through the Balkans to Turkey, the Caucasus and Armenia; woodland margins, scrub and hedgerows, and long cultivated across that whole range for its fruit.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs grafted (seedlings much longer)

Growth speed

20–30 cm/year — slow, and slow to come into bearing, but very long-lived.

Spacing

400 cm (157 in) apart — about 16 m² (172 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Opposite, ovate to oblong, 4–10 cm long, with 3–5 pairs of strongly arching veins that curve forward and run parallel to the leaf margin — the classic dogwood venation, and the quickest way to confirm the genus.

Root system

Densely branched, fibrous and shallow, spreading laterally rather than deep; transplants reasonably well when young.

Fruit description

Oblong red drupes 1.5–2 cm long, each with a single stone, hanging like small elongated cherries. ⚠ Astringent and unpleasant until fully ripe and soft enough to drop into the hand — properly ripe they are sweet-tart and excellent in jam, syrup and liqueur.

Propagation

Semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings, layering, or grafting for named fruiting cultivars. Seed is doubly dormant and notoriously slow — often two to three years to germinate without warm-then-cold stratification.

Pollination

Partially self-fertile — plant 2 for a real crop

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.