Skip to content
그루안

Japanese Cornelian Dogwood

Cornus officinalis · Cornaceae · 산수유

How to spot it

Small yellow flower clusters before the leaves, gray-brown peeling bark, and red oval fruit.

Look

Leaves
Opposite leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic (or lanceolate) with smooth margins. The underside is pale green and may have reddish-brown tufts of hair in the vein axils. Fall color ranges from dull yellow to reddish purple.
Flowers
Yellow flowers with short stalks open in clusters before the leaves emerge.
Fruit
Red to crimson oval drupes appear in fall, each with one hard stone.
Bark
Gray-brown bark peels.

Where it grows

In Korea
Planted
Native to
Native to central-northern and southeastern China, according to NC State.
Ecology
Found mainly in woods, woodland edges and mountain slopes. The red fall fruit attracts birds, and the tree serves as a nesting site for birds.

Stories

Sources