365 Urban Species. #299: Kousa dogwood

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: Brookline, by Beaconsfield station.

Urban species #299: Kousa dogwood Cornus kousa

Kousa dogwood is a small, exotic-looking tree, often planted in urban lawns. It is native to east Asia, and is sometimes called Korean dogwood or Japanese dogwood. Its flowers appear later than those of "flowering" dogwood, and the four petal-like bracts come to sharp points, giving the flower an appearance similar to a pinwheel. When the flower has performed its purpose, a berry-like fruit develops. Some authorities believe that the fruit evolved to be dispersed by monkey; they are edible for humans, as well. Reports are consistently unenthusiastic, and frequently mention the fruit's "mealy" texture. Squirrels make up for the lack of primate attention to the tree. Some birds will take the fruits as well, though since they are large and unwieldy, compared to the fruits of Cornus florida, birds will more often feed on fallen Kousa fruits than pick them from the tree. The fruit's relatively late arrival mean that overwintering birds benefit more than migratory birds. Kousa dogwood is hardier than flowering dogwood, resisting cold and disease better. Some authorities predict that kousa may eventually outnumber florida, or even hybridize with it, causing the weaker native tree's demise.



Readers' photos of the tree in flower are especially welcome!

Comments

Future Fodder

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what this is, but it sprouted suddenly in my yard and has a flower like nothing I've seen before:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eloisemason/280640317/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eloisemason/280639857/

It's clearly a member of the Compositae, but further than that I cannot know.

Re: Future Fodder

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

The foliage looks like buttercup but the flower is unfamiliar. Perhaps someone on urban_nature knows.

[spocks-girl.livejournal.com]

I've never seen or heard of this species before, thanks for the post and description.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! I've been wondering what that was. There's one right outside the window here at my desk, and I watched the squirrels and birds try to negotiate eating these juicy fruits for a month of so. I don't think there are any fruits left, but I'll check and try one if there are!

Thanks!

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

Taste varies from tree to tree. Mine tastes bitter, my Pa's is sweet, kind of like a persimmon without the pucker. The texture is sort of guava like. Pa's tree is a tiny bit too tall to pick the fruit without a ladder, so I've been unwilling to pick a bunch and experiment with making jam out of them.

At least it isn't poisonous!

[nancy-drew5100.livejournal.com]

I just moved to Vancouver, BC last year and not being overly familiar with what was edible here I started learning this new city and climate from scratch. I think I tasted just about everything, including nightshade by accident, and the fruit from what I called the "red geodesic ball tree" since I came late enough in the year that I didn't actually see the flowers on the tree and couldn't otherwise identify it. Now I have seen all the seasons through, and recognized the flowers on the same bush as being this type of dogwood, and became a little alarmed because I was under the impression that dogwoods were poisonous. Thank you for posting the photo of the fruit up close and the information you had on it as it confirms for me that it is in fact edible.

What I noticed from eating the fruit is that they are similar to eating a rose hip; very pasty with a slight flavour to them, but not overly outstanding. They are also quite seedy and I didn't end up eating the seeds out of the fruit. They weren't a lot to write home about, but it's good to know that if one did need to eat them, that you could do so.

Re: At least it isn't poisonous!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the report!