Asiatic flower dogwood
| Asiatic flower dogwood | ||||||||||||
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Cornus kousa |
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The Asian flower dogwood ( Cornus kousa ) is a species of plant in the genus dogwood ( Cornus ) from the dogwood family (Cornaceae).
description
The Asian flower dogwood is a slow-growing shrub or tree that reaches heights of up to about 10 m ( Cornus kousa ssp. Chinensis up to 6 m). The trunk, covered by a smooth, gray-brown bark, reaches a diameter of up to 35 cm. The upper branches are upright, the lower branches, however, are held horizontally and arranged in layers. The branches are hairy in the first year, but bare from the second year. The oppositely arranged, dark green leaves are 4 to 11 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide. They are oval and have entire margins and carry four to five pairs of nerves pointing forward. Very often the leaves are covered with tiny, close-fitting hairs, less often the hairs are longer and protruding.
The inflorescences are false flowers (pseudanthia) in which the 20 to 40 very small, real flowers are arranged in spherical umbels about 1 cm in diameter. The flower-like character of the pseudo-flowers is underlined by four white to cream-colored bracts , which replace the tiny real petals of the individual flowers.
The fruits of an umbel combine to form a long-stemmed, round false fruit , a fruit association ( stone fruit association ), which is pale reddish to bright orange-red in color and has a diameter of about 1 to 2 cm.
The number of chromosomes (of the subsp. Chinensis subspecies ) is 2n = 22.
Multiplication
Propagation can take place via cuttings or from seeds. In order to obtain a high rate of seedlings, it is important to remove the pulp, in which sprout inhibitors are contained, from the seeds. B. black peat / quartz sand, cold house. The seeds germinate in the next spring (March).
Subspecies and their distribution
The species comes from the temperate zones of East Asia . One can distinguish the following subspecies:
- Cornus kousa subsp. kousa grows in Japan (except Hokkaidō ) and Korea ,
- Cornus kousa subsp. chinensis (Osborn) QYXiang grows in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan .
In the natural range, the plants are found on the edges of forests and river banks , and are also planted as greenery on roadsides.
use
Because of its conspicuous and decorative bracts and fruits, the species is cultivated as an ornamental plant , but only rarely and only at high prices in the trade. Flowering time is May to July, depending on the location, the fruits ripen in autumn. Before the leaves are shed in late autumn, they turn bright yellow to scarlet.
The fruits are edible. The orange-colored pulp tastes sweet on ripe fruits and is reminiscent of mango or melon , but the leathery skin and gel-like consistency of the pulp prevent its greater popularity. A kind of fruit liqueur similar to umeshu is made from the fruits pickled in alcohol .
photos
Single pseudo-flower
literature
- Gordon Cheers (Ed.): Botanica . Random House Australia, 2003. German edition: Tandem Verlag GmbH 2003, ISBN 3-8331-1600-5 .
- Hayashi: Nihon-no Jumoku. Yama to Keikoku Sha, Tokyo 1985, ISBN 4-635-09017-5 .
Web links
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia ) .
- Profile of the species ( Memento from June 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
- Profile of the species at garden database.
- Wanted poster of the kind at NC State University (English).
- Flora of China - Cornus kousa ssp. chinensis .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cornus kousa at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ P. McMillan Browse: Hardy Woody Plants From Seed. Grower, London 1979, ISBN 0-901361-21-6 .