Cornus officinalis

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. Fully ripe fruit is quite pleasant though slightly astringent, and measures about 1.5cm long. It contains approximately 8.6% sugars, 2.9% malic acid, and 0.74% ash.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It grows on mountains, slopes, forest margins, forests between 400-1500 (-2100) m in China. It can tolerate frost. It can grow in alkaline soils as well as clay soils. In can grow in sun or light shade. It suits hardiness zones 6-8.

Asia, Australia, China*, Japan*, Korea,

How to Identify

A deciduous shrub or tree. It grows 4-10 m high and spreads 4-6 m wide. The bark is flaky brown. The leaves are narrowly oval and 12 cm long. The flowers are yellow. The fruit are bright red when fully ripe. They are 1-1.5 cm across.

How to Grow

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in any soil of good or moderate fertility, ranging from acid to shallow chalk. Grows well in heavy clay soils. Succeeds in full sun or light shade. A very ornamental plant, it is very closely related to C. mas but is more tree-like in its habit. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus.

Propagation: Seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe, either in a cold frame or an outdoor seedbed if sufficient seed is available. The seed must be separated from the fruit flesh, which contains germination inhibitors. Stored seed should be cold stratified for 3–4 months and sown as early in the year as possible. Scarification may also help, as may a period of warm stratification before the cold stratification. Germination, especially of stored seed, can be very slow, taking 18 months or more. Prick out cold-frame seedlings into individual pots once large enough to handle, grow on through their first winter under glass, and plant out in spring after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe side shoots can be taken in July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current year's growth, taken with a heel if possible, can be taken in autumn in a cold frame, with a high success rate. Layering of new growth in June/July takes around 9 months to root.

Medicinal Uses

Shan Zhu Yu has been used for at least 2,000 years in Chinese herbal medicine as an herb that stabilizes and binds. It is used principally to reduce heavy menstrual bleeding and unusually active secretions including copious sweating, excessive urine, spermatorrhoea, and premature ejaculation. Because herbs that suppress bodily fluids can prolong or worsen symptoms when used alone, it is normally combined with tonic or detoxifying herbs such as Rehmannia glutinosa, and is an ingredient of the Pill of Eight Ingredients, used in China to warm and invigorate the yang of the loins. The fruit is antibacterial, antifungal, hypotensive, antitumor, astringent, diuretic, hepatic, and tonic. A decoction of the fruit without the seed is used to treat arthritis, fever, and a wide range of other ailments including senile lumbago, diabetes, cystitis, and tinnitus. The fruit has an antibacterial action, inhibiting the growth of Bacillus dysenteriae and Staphylococcus. Fruit is harvested fully ripe and dried for later use. The stem bark is astringent, antimalarial, and tonic. The plant as a whole is antibacterial, diuretic, hypotensive, and a urinary antiseptic.

Other Uses

None known.

Cornus officinalis, the Japanese cornel or Japanese cornelian cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae. Despite its name, it is native to China and Korea as well as Japan. It is not to be confused with C. mas, which is also known as the Cornelian cherry. It is not closely related to the true cherries of the genus Prunus.

Notes

The fruit are used in medicine. There are about 45 Cornus species.

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