A dwarf, very compact, slow-growing, deciduous shrub; dense in habit and apparently not likely to exceed 2 ft in height. Leaves opposite, crowded, oval-lanceolate, wedge-shaped at the base, slender pointed; 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, about one-third as wide; very dark, almost black-green above, glaucous beneath, both surfaces with flattened hairs; veins in three to five pairs. Flowers pinkish white, produced the summer through in cymes 11⁄2 in. across. Fruit dingy bluish white, flattened globose, scarcely 1⁄4 in. wide.
The native country of this very distinct little shrub does not appear to be known, but it is probably from N.E. Asia. It is quite unlike any other cornel in its dense, very leafy, compact habit and curiously dark foliage. It arose in Hesse’s nurseries in a batch of Crataegus seedlings raised from seed which they had received from the St Petersburg Botanic Garden.