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Cotoneaster congestus Baker

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cotoneaster congestus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cotoneaster/cotoneaster-congestus/). Accessed 2024-11-09.

Synonyms

  • C. microphyllus var. glacialis Hook, f.
  • C. pyrenaicus Hort.

Glossary

Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
prostrate
Lying flat.
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cotoneaster congestus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cotoneaster/cotoneaster-congestus/). Accessed 2024-11-09.

An evergreen shrub of low, compact, dense habit 112 to 212 ft high; young wood downy. Leaves oval or obovate, about 13 in. long, dull green above, whitish beneath with a few hairs at first, but becoming nearly or quite glabrous. Flowers solitary, 14 in. across, pinkish white. Fruit bright red, round, 14 in. diameter.

Native of the Himalaya up to 14,000 ft. This little evergreen has by some authorities been made a variety of C. microphyllus, which it may possibly be. But it is much more distinct from ordinary C. microphyllus than is C. thymifolius, especially in its habit, which, as Baker’s name implies, is congested. Instead of its branches being spreading or prostrate, they are short, dense, often decurved, the whole forming a compact rounded mass. The dull green, paler leaves, not densely woolly beneath as in C. microphyllus, afford other distinctions. I have therefore retained the original name, and the one by which this plant is best known. It is a charming little evergreen for the rock garden, or for small borders of low shrubs where it runs no danger of being smothered by more aggressive plants.

In recent years similar cotoneasters have been collected in S.E. Tibet (e.g. Kingdon Ward 12386 and Ludlow, Sheriff and Elliott 15782).