Asiatic cornelian cherry

Photo: Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini — Public domain · 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.

Cornelian cherry: tart, cranberry-meets-sour-cherry — best cooked.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late Aug–Sept

Mature size

Shrub/small tree 4–7 m; containerable when young

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

5.5–7.5

Environment

Temperate

Native range

East Asia — China, Japan and Korea, in montane woodland; long cultivated in China, where the dried fruit (shan zhu yu) is a standard tonic herb.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs grafted

Growth speed

20–30 cm/year — slow, as with cornelian cherry, and slow to come into bearing.

Spacing

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

Leaf shape

Opposite, ovate to elliptic, 4–10 cm long, with 5–7 pairs of strongly arching veins curving forward parallel to the margin, and small tufts of brown hairs in the vein axils beneath — the hair tufts separate it from C. mas.

Root system

Densely branched, fibrous and fairly shallow, spreading laterally rather than deep.

Fruit description

Oblong red drupes 1.2–2 cm long with a single stone, much like cornelian cherry's. ⚠ Sharply astringent until fully ripe and soft; usually dried rather than eaten fresh, and the stone is traditionally removed before drying.

Propagation

Semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings, layering, or grafting for named forms. Seed is doubly dormant and very slow, often taking two to three years 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.