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Cotoneaster frigidus
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Cotoneaster frigidus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Cotoneaster acuminatus
- Cotoneaster acutifolius
- Cotoneaster adpressus
- Cotoneaster affinis
- Cotoneaster ambiguus
- Cotoneaster amoenus
- Cotoneaster apiculatus
- Cotoneaster bullatus
- Cotoneaster buxifolius
- Cotoneaster congestus
- Cotoneaster conspicuus
- Cotoneaster cooperi
- Cotoneaster dammeri
- Cotoneaster dielsianus
- Cotoneaster distichus
- Cotoneaster divaricatus
- Cotoneaster foveolatus
- Cotoneaster franchetii
- Cotoneaster glabratus
- Cotoneaster glaucophyllus
- Cotoneaster harrovianus
- Cotoneaster hebephyllus
- Cotoneaster henryanus
- Cotoneaster horizontalis
- Cotoneaster hupehensis
- Cotoneaster integerrimus
- Cotoneaster lacteus
- Cotoneaster lindleyi
- Cotoneaster lucidus
- Cotoneaster melanocarpus
- Cotoneaster microphyllus
- Cotoneaster moupinensis
- Cotoneaster multiflorus
- Cotoneaster nitens
- Cotoneaster nitidifolius
- Cotoneaster obscurus
- Cotoneaster pannosus
- Cotoneaster prostratus
- Cotoneaster racemiflorus
- Cotoneaster rhytidophyllus
- Cotoneaster rotundifolius
- Cotoneaster rubens
- Cotoneaster salicifolius
- Cotoneaster simonsii
- Cotoneaster tomentosus
- Cotoneaster turbinatus
- Cotoneaster uniflorus
- Cotoneaster zabelii
A large, rounded, deciduous shrub 15 to 20 ft high, or a small tree; branchlets at first covered with pale down, becoming glabrous. Leaves 3 to 5 in. long, 1 to 2 in. wide; narrowly oval or obovate, deep dull green and glabrous above, pale and very woolly beneath when young, becoming almost glabrous by autumn. Flowers white, 1⁄3 in. across, produced very numerously in flatfish corymbs 2 in. or more across, terminating short leafy twigs; flower-stalks very woolly. Fruits in large clusters, each fruit about the size of a pea, rich bright red, with two nutlets.
Native of the Himalaya; introduced in 1824, and one of the most striking of all cotoneasters. The splendid clusters of ‘berries’ wreathing the branches make one of the most brilliant sights of autumn and early winter. The species is one of the most robust in the genus, making if left to itself a huge bush 20 ft high and as much through, consisting of numerous branching stems. But if kept to one stem when young and the lower branches removed, it will make a pretty round-headed tree with a well-shaped trunk. At Westonbirt, Glos., it has attained 40 ft in height. No hardy shrub more beautiful than this thrives in town gardens.
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
C. frigidus × C. salicifolius – There has been some confusion over the respective characteristics of ‘Exburiensis’ and ‘Rothschildianus’. The information given on pages 742–3 came from Exbury, but the names are used by most nurserymen in the reverse sense: ‘Rothschildianus’ with palish yellow berries and ‘Exburiensis’ with apricot-tinted berries, and less robust.
C. × watereri – A more recent clone in this group is ‘Salmon Spray’, a chance seedling of C. henryanus selected by Messrs Hillier. Its fruits are salmon-red. Also in or near C. × watereri is the very free-fruiting ‘Heaselands Coral’, which received an Award of Merit when shown by Mrs E. G. Kleinwort in October 1984 (The Garden (Journ. R.H.S.), Vol. 110, p. 418 (1985)).
† C. gamblei Klotz – A tree up to 20 ft in the wild, near to C. frigidus, but with the leaves mostly smaller and relatively broader, less downy beneath; peduncles and pedicels at first villous (not tomentose as in its ally); petals larger, woolly near the claw; fruits larger, darker red. Described in 1966 from a specimen collected by Ludlow, Sherriff and Hicks in Bhutan. It is planted around Darjeeling in India, making there a bushy-crowned tree with the appearance of an orchard apple. Plants raised from seeds collected in 1971 by the University of North Wales Expedition to east Nepal have been identified as this species by Dr Klotz.
C 'Cornubia'
This is one of the very finest of the larger growing cotoneasters. It is a very spreading shrub up to 25 ft high and more in width, clothed to the ground with foliage. But by pruning and keeping it to one stem in the early stages, it may be made to develop a genuine tree-like form. The richly green, abundant leaves are 4 to 5 in. long, oval-lanceolate, pointed, glabrous above, slightly downy beneath. It bears enormous crops of brilliant red fruits and is not surpassed in that respect by any other cotoneaster. It received an Award of Merit in 1933 and a First Class Certificate three years later. It was raised at Exbury and is perhaps a hybrid between C. frigidus ‘Vicarii’ and a plant grown as “C. glabratus” which was probably itself a hybrid of C. frigidus with a member of the C. salicifolius group (Orn. Fl. Trees & Shrubs, R.H.S. Conf. Rep., 1940, pp. 74 and 77). Two forms of the cross were distributed but the name ‘Cornubia’ belongs to the one given the A.M. in 1933. The original plant at Exbury is 25 ft high and 20 ft across.C × crispii Exell
This hybrid arose from C. frigidus by open pollination in the nurseries of John Waterer and Sons. The other parent was thought by Exell to be C. pannosus, which it resembles in leaf, while tending to C. frigidus in its fruits.C (frigidus × salicifolius) 'Exburiensis'
A tall evergreen shrub of which the first parent was a yellow-fruited form of C. frigidus. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, to 5 in. long and 1 in. or a little more wide, with impressed veins. Fruit pale yellow ‘Rothschildianus’ is another form of the cross, rather weaker growing, with deeper yellow fruits.