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bearberry cotoneaster, spreading cotoneaster, stretch-fruit cotoneaster

Habit Shrubs, 1.5–2 m; crown spreading, rounded.
Stems

erect;

branches divaricate or spiraled, spreading, lateral branches well developed, usually arching, long, brownish violet, initially strigose.

Leaves

deciduous;

petiole 3–4 mm, strigose;

blade elliptic, rarely ovate or suborbiculate, on sterile shoots usually elliptic or broadly elliptic, 10–30 × 7–21 mm, chartaceous, base obtuse, margins flat, not revolute, sometimes undulate, veins 3 or 4, superficial or slightly sunken, apex acute, rarely acuminate, abaxial surfaces pale green, initially strigose, adaxial dark green, shiny, not glaucous, flat between lateral veins, initially sparsely strigose;

fall leaves orange, red, or reddish purple.

Inflorescences

on fertile shoots 10–20 mm with 4 leaves, 1–4-flowered, compact.

Pedicels

1–3 mm, strigose.

Flowers

6–8 mm, opening small;

hypanthium cupulate, strigose;

sepals: margins villous, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces strigose;

petals erect-incurved, pale red, base dark red, border white;

stamens 10–15, filaments dark red, whitish distally, anthers white;

styles (1 or)2(or 3).

Pomes

dark red to ruby (finally blackish red), cylindric, oblong-ellipsoid, or narrowly obovoid, 8–11 × 4–8 mm, shiny, not glaucous, sparsely pilose;

sepals suberect, sparsely pilose;

navel open;

style remnants 2/3 from base.

Pyrenes

(1 or)2(or 3) [rarely 4].

Cotoneaster divaricatus

Phenology Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Sep–Dec.
Habitat Thickets, edges, disturbed forests, flood plains, rarely epiphytic on maple
Elevation 0–700 m (0–2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
IL; IN; KY; MA; MI; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; WI; BC; ON; Asia (China) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Europe]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Although rarely collected, Cotoneaster divaricatus is the most widely escaped cotoneaster in eastern North America. Misidentified specimens of it have been reported from New York as C. hupehensis Rehder & E. H. Wilson (R. S. Mitchell and G. C. Tucker 1997), from Illinois as C. acutifolius (J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 2003), from Indiana and Ontario as C. horizontalis (Kartesz and Meacham), from Kentucky as C. apiculatus Rehder & E. H. Wilson (Kartesz and Meacham), and from Wisconsin as C. lucidus (Kartesz and Meacham).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 9, p. 461.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Cotoneaster
Sibling taxa
C. adpressus, C. atropurpureus, C. cochleatus, C. conspicuus, C. crispii, C. dammeri, C. dielsianus, C. fangianus, C. franchetii, C. frigidus, C. gamblei, C. hjelmqvistii, C. hodjingensis, C. horizontalis, C. integrifolius, C. lacteus, C. lucidus, C. magnificus, C. melanocarpus, C. miniatus, C. monopyrenus, C. nitens, C. pannosus, C. qungbixiensis, C. rehderi, C. salicifolius, C. simonsii, C. sternianus, C. tengyuehensis, C. transens, C. vestitus, C. villosulus, C. ×suecicus
Name authority Rehder & E. H. Wilson: in C. S. Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 1: 157. (1912)
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