Resistant, versatile, harmonious: the cornel or dogwood tree is a rustic plant that is easy to grow, it adapts to any climatic context and from its splendid yellow inflorescence the tasty carnelians are born. The name of the plant alludes to the extreme hardness of the wood which, when worked, becomes smooth, shiny, compact like a hard stone or a polished horn(cornus). The strength and durability of the timber made the cornel wood suitable for making wheels, ploughs, tools, decorated objects and weapons. These qualities were prized in the ancient world, so the tree has been linked to the originsof peoples and some legendary tales. Plutarch narrates that Romulus vigorously threw a dogwood pole to define the boundary of the eternal city, thus symbolizing the foundation and expansion of Rome. In the Aeneid it is described as a tree sacred to Apollo present on Mount Ida, near the plain of Troy. From this forest the Greeks took the wood necessary for the construction of the famous horse designed by Odysseus; after smoothing and modelling it, they gave life to the deception and, when the sculpture was introduced into the Trojan walls, only Cassandra managed not to give in to the splendour and magnificence of the artifact. A legendary wood full of symbolic and religious meanings, which has become part of mythology and human history.