Cornelian cherry

A large deciduous shrub that produces lotsofshiny red berries, this fruit haslong been used as a food crop as well as been loved by birds.
Cornus mas has soft foliage with small, bright yellow flowers in early Spring that are followed by fleshy, bright red, cherry-like fruits in late Summer. Attractive bark on older plants.
The unripe fruit is bitter but when fully ripe it has a plum-like flavour and can be eaten from the tree. It is rather low in pectin and so needs to be used with other fruit when making jam.A good, productive tree for forest gardening.
It grows on almost any soil once it is not too compacted, an interesting fact is that the wood of Cornus mas is extremely dense- meaning that, unlike most wood, it sinks in water.

Site:Tolerates inland exposure
Soil:Any well drained soil
Position:Full sun, partial shade
Season of Interest:Spring flowers, Autumn colour, edible berries
Hardiness:Fully hardy
Height:16ft (5m) Spread: 16ft (5m)