Shrub Identification?

[noparlpf]

Anybody know what the heck this thing is? I've seen a few around in Massachusetts and New York, but I don't know what it is. Has these fleshy fruits about an inch across. They taste a little tangy but not very sweet. Not apparently particularly toxic. The tallest I've seen was about three meters high.
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb416/noparlpf/1003130950-00_zps69e6de8e.jpg

I had another thing to ask about but I figured out that they were crab apples. Those are much tastier, the thing above is a bit bland really.

[Palanan]

Looks like you've found a Kousa dogwood, Cornus kousa. These aren't native to the U.S.; like a lot of popular ornamentals, they're originally from Korea, Japan and eastern China.

Where did you find this one? I'm assuming it wasn't in someone's front yard, so what you probably have is an "escaped" ornamental. If you're not seeing dense groves of them, they're probably not that invasive, although other east Asian plants can cause real problems on our side of the world.

--This one really threw me for a while, because the leaves were screaming "dogwood," but none of our native dogwoods have single berries; usually they're smaller and in fairly dense clusters. It also never occurred to me that a dogwood could produce edible berries. Well, live and learn....

[Melayl]

You can probably send a cutting to your state conservation office and get a positive identification.

[Palanan]

I just double-checked with a friend of mine who's a professional botanist. She pegged it as Cornus kousa.

[Ravens_cry]

It cracks me up that it's "[n]ot apparently particularly toxic."
I am guessing this was found by the most empirical of methods using a live test subject.

[Palanan]

...yeah, it occurred to me that this probably wasn't the best approach. ID first, nibble afterward.

:smalltongue:

[Ravens_cry]

...yeah, it occurred to me that this probably wasn't the best approach. ID first, nibble afterward.

:smalltongue:
As someone who ate snowberries when I was three years old, I heartily concur.
I also apparently are Poinsettia leaves at an even younger age, but I don't remember that.
Yes, I was apparently quite the empiricist as a young apeling.:smallamused:

[Rawhide]

Bring me... a shrubbery!

[inuyasha]

Bring me... a shrubbery!

dangit rawhide you beat me to it!

...now I DONT HAVE A SHRUB JOKE!

:smallfurious::smallmad::smallyuk::smallfrown:

[Jay R]

dangit rawhide you beat me to it!

...now I DONT HAVE A SHRUB JOKE!

:smallfurious::smallmad::smallyuk::smallfrown:

Well. don't beat around the bush. Go find one.

[Traab]

Well. don't beat around the bush. Go find one.

Hey dont shrub him off, thats rude! And dont worry about the poinsettia thing, they really arent that dangerous. Worst case you vomit the leaves up or have a bit of diarrhea.

[Ravens_cry]

Hey dont shrub him off, thats rude! And dont worry about the poinsettia thing, they really arent that dangerous. Worst case you vomit the leaves up or have a bit of diarrhea.
It's been over one score and five years since my experiment. The worrying is long over.:smalltongue:

[Manga Shoggoth]

dangit rawhide you beat me to it!

...now I DONT HAVE A SHRUB JOKE!

:smallfurious::smallmad::smallyuk::smallfrown:

Well, I was going to identify it as a Larch.

But Rawhide came up with a much better reference...

[Rawhide]

Well, I was going to identify it as a Larch.

But Rawhide came up with a much better reference...

It is a good shrubbery.

[noparlpf]

Looks like you've found a Kousa dogwood, Cornus kousa. These aren't native to the U.S.; like a lot of popular ornamentals, they're originally from Korea, Japan and eastern China.

Where did you find this one? I'm assuming it wasn't in someone's front yard, so what you probably have is an "escaped" ornamental. If you're not seeing dense groves of them, they're probably not that invasive, although other east Asian plants can cause real problems on our side of the world.

--This one really threw me for a while, because the leaves were screaming "dogwood," but none of our native dogwoods have single berries; usually they're smaller and in fairly dense clusters. It also never occurred to me that a dogwood could produce edible berries. Well, live and learn....

Oh, cool, thanks. I was thinking dogwood from the leaves, but I'd never seen fruits like that on the usual sorts we see around here, which also tend to be more like small trees than like shrubs. I've also never seen these guys flower, just grow the berries. That might just be me being unobservant though.
There are two or three around the campus of my old school (Simon's Rock College in Massachusetts) and another handful in one corner of the campus of my current school (Stony Brook University on Long Island).


It cracks me up that it's "[n]ot apparently particularly toxic."
I am guessing this was found by the most empirical of methods using a live test subject.

I like tasting mysterious fruits and berries. Only rarely are they actually edible, though...

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by noparlpf
There are two or three around the campus of my old school (Simon's Rock College in Massachusetts) and another handful in one corner of the campus of my current school (Stony Brook University on Long Island).

Sounds like straight-up ornamental plantings, although I wouldn't be surprised if they had a few descendants in the woods or yards nearby.

[Ravens_cry]

I like tasting mysterious fruits and berries. Only rarely are they actually edible, though...
There is a saying worthy of note here. It describes fungi, but it still basically applies.
"There are old mushroom pickers and there are bold mushroom pickers, but there are no old, bold mushroom pickers."

[MonkeyBusiness]

I used to work in an Arboretum, and these grew just outside the greenhouse. I too was freaked out the first time I saw those weird compound fruits! They remind me of submarine mines.

May I say: I'm truly impressed Palanan knew what it was right off the bat! :smallbiggrin:

.

[TheThan]

Umm, that’s an alien spore pod.

You might want to destroy it with fire. Preferably before its spores are released into our atmosphere and infect everyone and we have a major outbreak. Stop Zday before it happens.

[Spuddles]

Umm, that’s an alien spore pod.

Literally, in this case.