Silverleaf Cotoneaster

Shrubs semievergreen, to 2 m tall. Branchlets dark grayish brown or purplish brown, thin, initially densely white tomentose, glabrescent. Petiole 2–7 mm, tomentose; stipules caducous, linear, pubescent; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, elliptic, or ovate, 2–3(–4) × 0.8–1.5 cm, leathery, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 4–6 pairs, abaxially densely white tomentose, adaxially slightly pubescent or glabrous, base broadly cuneate, apex obtuse or acute. Corymbs 1–3 × 1.5–2.5 cm, to 10(–20)-flowered; rachis and pedicels densely tomentose; bracts caducous, linear, pubescent. Pedicel 2–3 mm. Flowers 7–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially densely tomentose. Sepals triangular, apex shortly acuminate or acute. Petals spreading, white, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 3–3.5 mm, base shortly clawed and puberulous adaxially, apex obtuse. Stamens 20, nearly as long as petals; anthers purplish red. Ovary pubescent apically; styles 2(or 3), free, ca. as long as stamens. Fruit dark red, globose or ovoid, 7–8 mm in diam., pyrenes often 2. Fl. Jun, fr. Oct–Nov. 2n = 34*, 68*.

Sichuan, Yunnan.

Thickets, rocky places, waste places in mountain regions, slopes; 1100--3200 m.

pannosus: appearance or texture of felt, referring to the underside of the leaves

Shrub, to 3 m. Leaves alternate, dark dull green and hairless above, densely white-tomentose beneath. Flowers in terminal and axillary heads, white. Fruit a red berry.

Common in and near Harare; local elsewhere

Native to China; naturalised elsewhere, e.g. in Zimbabwe and S Africa

Cotoneaster pannosus is a species of Cotoneaster known by the common name silverleaf cotoneaster. This woody shrub is native to south central China but it has been introduced to other areas of the world, including southern Africa and Australia as an ornamental. It has become naturalized in some areas but it is a troublesome noxious weed in others, for example, in Hawaii. This is a sprawling shrub easily reaching over 3 meters in height. It is covered in dull green oval-shaped leaves with fuzzy white undersides and blooms in white flowers. The fruits are red-orange pomes containing two seeds each. These fruits are very attractive to birds, which are the main agent of seed dispersal. It grows on the elevation of 3,280 feet (1,000 m).