Addisonia 2 1 



(Plate 91) 



COTONEASTER SIMONSII 



Simons' Cotoneaster 



Native of the temperate Himalayan Region 

 Family Pomackae Apple Family 



Cotoneaster Simonsii Baker, in Saund. Ref. Bot. pi. 55. 1869. 



A shrub of rather open habit, with spreading branches, roundish 

 leaves, white flowers marked with bright rose, and bright red fruit. 

 The older branches are of a dark purple or purplish gray, and 

 rather sparingly pubescent; the pubescent new growths are usually 

 of a yellowish brown. The leaves, in clusters of two to four on 

 short lateral branches, are broadly oval to nearly orbicular, rounded 

 or somewhat wedge-shaped at the base, abruptly sharp-pointed at 

 the apex, and are a half inch to an inch long, and a half inch or a 

 little more wide; they are of firm texture, appressed-hairy, the 

 hairs fewer at fruiting time. The small cymes, terminating the 

 lateral branches, have two to four flowers, rarely a single flower, 

 about a quarter of an inch long; the globose hypanthium and 

 spreading calyx are appressed-pubescent, forming together a bell- 

 shaped body ; the five sepals are ovate, acutish ; the five petals are 

 erect, white with rose markings, ovate, obtuse or acutish. The 

 fruit is bright red, broadly obovoid, and three eighths to a half 

 inch long. 



A fine shrub, native of the temperate regions of Khasia and 

 Sikkim in the Himalayas. It is one of the best of the red-fruited 

 shrubs, a worthy addition to any collection. It is open in habit, 

 with wand-like branches, bearing in June little clusters of white and 

 rose flowers; these later mature into the brightest of fruits, which 

 persist for some time. It was introduced into cultivation before 

 1869, when it was first described from specimens secured at a 

 nursery in Weymouth, England. The illustration was made from 

 a specimen which has been in the collections of the New York 

 Botanical Garden since 1897. This shrub may be propagated by 

 seeds sown or stratified in the fall, or by grafting. 



This is one of about forty species which comprise the genus 

 Cotoneaster, distributed mainly in the temperate regions of Europe 

 and Asia, with a few in northern Africa; curiously enough none 

 are known from Japan. The fruit is red or black, the former of 

 course being much preferred on account of its greater attractiveness. 



