Cornus sunhangii

I was with … in Manipur. What’s interesting about this Cornus is that it doesn’t quite fit with any Asian Cornus I can think of, or find described. It is clearly close to C. capitata, which is common here in the UK from many introductions, over a very long period, from right across its natural range. Kingdon-Ward mentions finding C. capitata on Sirhoi in 1948, which will undoubtedly be this same taxon as Khorrung is a stone’s throw from Sirhoi. But I have measured the fruit at up to 6cm across (… was being conservative!). C. capitata fruit are described as 1.5-2.5cm diameter, purple-red at maturity and ‘densely covered in white trichomes’, unlike ours – these dropped green as … photos show. The fruits are ‘flattened globose’, as per C. capitata. It showed every sign of being fully evergreen, unlike C. kousa. It made trees up to perhaps 9m tall, unlike any C. kousa subsp. kousa. The very few flowers we saw (aberrant autumn flowers on part of one tree only) were white, unlike the pale yellow usually seen on C. capitata, though some are described as ‘whitish’. C. capitata foliage is described as being abaxially ‘densely pubescent with thick, white, appressed trichomes’. Our plant is abaxially glabrescent, with very few tiny hairs, feeling almost smooth to the touch. C. capitata has leaves adaxially ‘grey-green’, whereas ours are green.

Thanks … for digging this more deep. I agree that the fruits are much bigger and leaves are different too. I could not guess the fruit’s size with the previous photos. Definitely it is not C. kousa ssp. kousa. Let us know if you describe it as a new species.

Sorry for confusion, but I completely neglected to consider C. hongkongensis. It would seem this is the closest candidate, but the fruit are still much larger than anything so far recorded. If it does turn out to be this species it would about as disjunct a population as the C. kousa kousa in Sikkim!!

I must say, I find it very difficult to believe C. kousa subsp. kousa would be found in Sikkim considering it is only known from Japan and Korea and with C. kousa subsp. chinensis geographically in between. I wonder whether there may be a connection between these Manipur plants and the Sikkim find. I also wonder if the Sikkim plants are catagorically, definitely deciduous.