A deciduous shrub or a small tree up to 15 or 18 ft high; young shoots downy. Leaves oval or obovate, 1 to 3 in. long, scarcely half as wide; wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, often with a short abrupt point, not toothed; dark glossy green and glabrous above, paler and often somewhat downy beneath; veins parallel, usually in eight or nine pairs; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers clustered two to ten together in the leaf-axils of the young shoots, bisexual, the parts in fives; calyx and flower-stalk glabrous. Fruits at first changing from green to red, then to dark purple, 1⁄4 in. across, roundish, two-seeded.
R. frangula is widely distributed in western Eurasia and is a native of Britain, though absent from Scotland and the north-west. It is a rather handsome small fruiting tree with foliage of a cheerful green. Under the name of “dogwood” its wood is used (as charcoal) in the manufacture of the finest gunpowders. The bark has purgative properties.
f. angustifolia (Loud.) Schelle – This has narrowly oblong or oblanceolate leaves, from 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide, the margins uneven or jagged.
cv. ‘Asplenifolia’. – A remarkable form with leaves as long as in the type, but only from 1⁄12 to 1⁄6 in. wide as a rule.
var. latifolia Dipp. – Found in the Caucasian region, this has larger, broader leaves than the type, up to 31⁄2 in. long and 2 in. wide.
R. latifolia L’Hécrit. Frangula azorica Tutin – This species, a native of Madeira and the Azores, has leaves up to 5 in. long, 3 in. wide, with ten to sixteen pairs of parallel veins and a stalk 11⁄4 in. long. Akin to R. frangula, it differs not only in its larger, more numerously veined leaves, but also in haying a downy flower-stalk and calyx, the former up to 5⁄8 in. long. Fruits nearly 1⁄2 in. across, red, then black. Introduced in 1778; now very rare, but worth growing for its handsome foliage. Bot. Mag., t. 2663.