Cotoneaster microphyllus Wallich ex Lindley var. rotundifolius (Wallich ex Lindley) Wenzig; C. microphyllus var. uva-ursi Lindley; C. prostratus Baker.

Shrubs evergreen, to 4 m tall. Branchlets spreading, grayish brown to blackish brown, initially appressed villous, glabrous when old. Petiole 1–3 mm, pilose; stipules persistent or caducous, lanceolate, puberulous; leaf blade suborbicular or broadly ovate, 0.8–2 cm × 6–10 mm, abaxially pilose, adaxially glabrous, rarely puberulous, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex obtuse or emarginate, sometimes acute and mucronate. Inflorescences 1–3-flowered; bracts caducous, linear-lanceolate. Pedicel 2–4 mm, pubescent. Flowers ca. 1 cm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially pilose. Sepals triangular, apex acute. Petals spreading, white or tinged reddish, broadly ovate or obovate, 4–5 mm and nearly as broad, base very shortly clawed, apex obtuse or emarginate. Stamens 20, ca. as long as or somewhat shorter than petals. Ovary pilose apically; styles 2 or 3, free, nearly equalling or lower than stamens. Fruit red, obovoid, 7–9 mm in diam., pyrenes 2 or 3. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep. 2n = 68.

Further study is necessary to determine the identity of Cotoneaster subalpinus G. Klotz, which might be synonymous with this taxon.

Grassy slopes, rocks, mountain summits; 1200--4000 m. W Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal].