Taiping cotoneaster

Cotoneaster acutifolius Turczaninow var. villosulus Rehder & E. H. Wilson in C. S. Sargent, Pl. Wilson 1: 158. 1912 (as acutifolia var. villosula)

Shrubs or trees, 3–5 m. Stems erect, arching, spreading, ˂coarse˃; branches distichous or spiraled, brown, initially densely villose-strigose. Leaves deciduous; petiole 2–5 mm, strigose; blade elliptic or ovate, 32–72(–104) x 18–37(–46) mm, subcoriaceous to chartaceous, base obtuse or cuneate, margins flat, not revolute, veins 5–8, lightly sunken, apex attenuate to long-acuminate, often acute on short shoots, abaxial surfaces green, ˂shiny˃, sparsely pilose-strigose, adaxial dark reddish green, shiny, not glaucous, soon dark green, dullish, bulging between lateral veins, rugose, pilose-strigose; ˂fall leaves purple and rich dark red˃. Inflorescences on fertile shoots 25–50 mm with 4 leaves, 3–5(–7)-flowered, mostly compact. Pedicels 3–7 mm, densely strigose. Flowers 6–8 mm, opening small; hypanthium cupulate, tomentose-strigose; sepals: margins tomentose, ˂borders brown, broad, glabrous˃, apex acute, obtuse, or apiculate, surfaces strigose; petals erect-incurved, pink or red, base dark red, margins white; stamens 18–20, filaments pale pink, white distally, anthers white; styles 2 or 3. Pomes purple-black, broadly ellipsoid to broadly obovoid, rarely cylindric, 9–11 x 8–11 mm, slightly shiny, not or slightly glaucous, villous; sepals flat or ascending, ˂margins tomentose˃, strigose; forming star over open navel; style remnants 4/5 from base. Pyrenes 2 or 3. 2n = 68 (Germany).

Flowering May (often reflowering Sep); fruiting Aug–Nov. Thickets, open forests; 0–50 m; introduced; Wash.; Asia (China); introduced also in Europe.

The difficulties of typification and taxonomy for black-fruited species were discussed by J. Fryer and B. Hylmö (1997). Some collections of Cotoneaster villosulus from eastern Washington need study. They approach the very similar C. hsingshangensis J. Fryer & B. Hylmö, a Chinese species with larger, more wrinkled leaves, more globose pomes, and less densely hairy flowers.