Bentham's Cornel

The ripe, sweet fruit is edible, the bark is used medicinally, and the branches and leaves are used for tannin.

At the eastern edge of its range in W Guizhou, Cornus capitata comes into contact with C. elliptica and the distinction between the two is somewhat obscured. Intermediates with leaves like C. elliptica but infructescences like C. capitata, or vice versa, are found. Additionally, there are some sparsely pubescent individuals with fine, white trichomes and leaves smooth to the touch abaxially (unlike either C. capitata or C. elliptica, both of which are densely pubescent with coarse trichomes and scabrous) and compressed globose infructescences (like C. capitata) borne on slender peduncles (like C. elliptica). These plants may represent hybrids between the two species in their region of contact, or incomplete infraspecific differentiation. The two taxa are distinguished primarily by the peduncle (stout vs. slender) and shape of the infructescence (compressed globose vs. globose) and whether the axils of the veins are pitted or not. However, as discussed above, a comparison of allozymes from a few specimens of the two taxa showed significantly different profiles. Additional molecular analyses should help to clarify the origin of this variation.

Lambert (Indian For. Bull. 80.1933) reports this species from the Muzaffarabad district of Kashmir, but I have not seen any authentic specimen from our area. The record needs confirmation. The strawberry-like fruit is edible.

Tree, branches with prominent petiole scars. Stems and branches sparsely puberulous. Leaves at the end of branches arising from closely set internodes, opposite and decussate, 4-7.5 cm long, 1.3-3 cm broad, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, apex acute to acuminate; petiole c. 1 cm long; leaf surfaces and petiole pubescent to tomentose; hairs white, appressed, medifixed. Heads 1-1.5 cm in diameter, subtended by 4 obovate bracts. Bracts c. 2.5 cm long, 1.5-2 cm broad, puberulent, yellow-white, apex acute. Calyx teeth rounded. Petals 2 mm, oblong, inflexed. Calyx and corolla puberulous. Anthers less than 1 mm, filaments shorter than the petals. Style c. 1 mm long, sparsely hairy. Fruit a head of coalesed drupes, succulent when ripe.

Trees or shrubs, evergreen, 3–15(–20) m tall. Bark brown or blackish gray; young branches grayish green, pubescent with white appressed trichomes; old branches grayish brown, nearly glabrous. Flower buds globose, exposed, subtended by four small green, linear-lanceolate bracts; leaf buds exposed. Leaf blade grayish green on both surfaces, narrowly elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 5–12 × 2–3.5(–4) cm, thinly leathery to leathery, abaxially densely pubescent with thick white appressed trichomes, scabrous, axils of veins often pitted or rarely with a cluster of trichomes, veins 3 or 4, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex acuminate to shortly caudate. Cymes globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diam., 50–100-flowered; bracts white, obovate or broadly obovate, rarely orbicular, 3.5–6.2 × 1.5–5 cm. Calyx tube ca. 1.2 mm, hardly lobed to conspicuously 4-lobed; lobes rounded. Petals oblong, 3–4 mm. Styles cylindrical, ca. 1.5 mm, densely pubescent with white trichomes. Infructescences compressed or subglobose, 1.5–2.5 cm in diam., pubescent with small white trichomes, purple red at maturity; peduncle (1.5–) 4–5(–8) cm, stout. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Sep–Nov.

Distribution: The Himalayan region, from Kulu to Bhutan, Khasi and Naga Hills.

Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal].

Fl.Per.: May July.

Evergreen and mixed forests; 1000–3200 m.

Flowering from May to July; fruiting from September to November.

Cornus capitata is close relative of Cornus elliptica, but differs from the latter in its peduncles thick, 2-3 cm (vs. slender, 5-8 cm), infructescences compressed globose (vs. globose).

Cornus capitata is occurring in Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan of China, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal.

The phylogenetic relationships of Cornus has been inferred using nuclear gene 26S rDNA (Fan and Xiang, 2001). Results suggest the dwarf dogwood (subg. Arctocrania) and the big-bracted dogwood (subg. Cynoxylon and subg. Syncarpea) clades are sisters (Cornus capitata belong to subg. Syncarpea), which are, in turn, sister to the cornelian cherries (subg. Cornus and subg. Afrocrania). This red-fruited clade is sister to the blue- or white-fruited dogwoods (subg. Mesomora, subg. Kraniopsis, and subg. Yinquania).

Trees or shrubs, evergreen, 3-18 m tall. Bark brown or blackish gray; young branches grayish green, pubescent with white appressed trichomes; old branches grayish brown, nearly glabrous. Flower buds globose, exposed, subtended by four small green, linear-lanceolate bracts; leaf buds exposed. Leaf blade grayish green on both surfaces, narrowly elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 5-12 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide, thinly leathery to leathery, abaxially densely pubescent with thick white appressed trichomes, scabrous, axils of veins often pitted or rarely with a cluster of trichomes, veins 3 or 4, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex acuminate to shortly caudate. Cymes globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diameter, 50-100-flowered; bracts white, obovate or broadly obovate, rarely orbicular, 3.5-6.2 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide. Calyx tube ca. 1.2 mm, hardly lobed to conspicuously 4-lobed; lobes rounded. Petals oblong, 3-4 mm. Styles cylindrical, ca. 1.5 mm, densely pubescent with white trichomes. Infructescences compressed or subglobose, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, pubescent with small white trichomes, purple red at maturity; peduncle 4-7 cm, stout.

The chromosomal number of Cornus capitata is 2n = 22 (Sandhu and Mann, 1988).

Growing in evergreen and mixed forests; 1000-3200 m.

The ripe, sweet fruit of Cornus capitata is edible, the bark is used medicinally, and the branches and leaves are used for tannin.

Cornus capitata is a species of dogwood known by the common names Bentham's cornel, evergreen dogwood, Himalayan flowering dogwood, and Himalayan strawberry-tree. It is native to the low-elevation woodlands of the Himalayas in China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan. It is naturalized in parts of Australia and New Zealand, but is also grown elsewhere as an ornamental. This is an evergreen tree growing to 12 meters in height and width. The leaves are gray-green and pale and fuzzy underneath, and several centimeters long. It flowers during the summer in white blooms. The infructescence is a small aggregate of several individual fruits fused into a red body 2 or 3 centimeters across. It is edible but sometimes bitter. There are several varieties and hybrids.

The species is naturalised in the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia.

The common name Bentham's cornel derives from the alternative label Benthamia fragifera, coined by John Lindley in honour of fellow botanist George Bentham.