December 24, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
1047 
Choice Cotoneasters. 
Of the two to three dozen Cotoneasters known to science, 
a very large percentage is now in cultivation and at the 
command of the planter, who cannot yet be said to have 
availed himself of the richness of this class of plants in the 
adornment of public and private grounds. Nearly all of them 
are shrubs, as very few attain the dimensions of a tree. They 
are members of the Rose family, and are most nearly related 
to the Hawthorns, the connecting link in our opinion being 
Crataegus pyracantha. The essential character that defines 
these two genera is that the fruit of Cotoneaster consists of two 
to five one-seeded stones, enclosed in a pulpy upgrowth of the 
receptacle 'or flower-stalk, and that the fruit of Crataegus 
consists of a one to five celled bony stone. 
The species of Cotoneaster are distributed over Europe, the 
north of Africa and in Asia, most of those in cultivation coming 
from the Himalayas, and certainly all the best of them. 
One species is reported from Mexico, but that is not in culti¬ 
vation so far as we are aware. One of the European species 
is usually given in British floras as a native plant, but found 
leading to private establishments would be much beautified 
by the use of several of the species, particularly those of 
dwarf, spreading, or horizontal habit. They are well adapted 
for living in dry situations, and in this respect they may be 
compared to the species of Cyticus and Genista. Several of 
the taller-growing kinds might be utilised for the making of 
division hedges in gardens, for planting in shrubberies, and 
for small trees in situations where larger ones would not be 
permissible. As a rule, they are so neat in habit that 
pruning is unnecessary ; and the closer they are to human 
habitations the longer will the owners thereof be able to 
enjoy the sight of the red berries by the birds being thus 
kept at bay. Members of the thrush family are as fond of 
the berries as they are of the fruits of the Rowan tree. 
One would have thought by this time that all of the 
species of Cotoneaster, or at least the hardy ones, would 
have been in cultivation, but quite recently travellers in the 
Far East have shown us that we have not yet made the 
acquaintance of all that remained to be discovered. During 
the past few years at least four have been brought to the 
COTONEASTEK ANGUSTIFOLIA. 
only on the Great Orme’s Head. This same species, how' 
ever, enjoys a very wide distribution, extending from Europe 
to Siberia and the Himalayas. 
The species in cultivation are not put to a great variety of 
purposes, C. Simonsii being that most often employed for 
planting’in the shrubbery or for making ornamental hedges. 
One other species which enjoys an equal if not a greater 
range of distribution in the gardens of this country is 
C. microphylla. This is often used in the form of low hedges, 
or even for edgings to walks. It is even more popular for 
covering walls, especially the walls of cottages and porches 
over the door. C. Simonsii is also employed for these latter 
purposes, and is highly ornamental when covered with its 
red berries, which are thus protected against the ravages of 
birds and hang on the plants during the greater part of the 
winter. 
The smaller-growing kinds are often planted on rockeries, 
for which they are remarkably suitable, owing to their habit 
of pressing their stems and branches against rocks or sup¬ 
porting surfaces without actually clinging to the same. They 
might even be more extensively employed for this purpose 
than they are. Many a dry bank by the side of the drives 
knowledge of planters through the instrumentality of Mr. 
Maurice L. de .Vilinorin, of Messrs. Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie., 
4, Quai de la Megisserie, Paris. 
One of the handsomest of these introductions is C. 
angustifolia, Franchet, of which we are able to give two 
illustrations, one showing a fine spray loaded with berries, 
and for which we are indebted to Mr. Maurice L. de 
Vilmorin, our illustration having been prepared from this 
spray. Theberr.es are oblate, flattened above, bright orange, 
and borne in corymbs of five to fifteen from the axil of 
every leaf almost, along the side shoots, so that when the 
fruits are ripe the foliage is almost concealed. The leaves 
are oblanceolate, almost linear, hoary and tomentose 
beneath, deep green above and perfectly entire. Every side 
branch or spray ■ terminates in a sharp thorn, so that in this 
respect and in the colour of the fruit a bush very closely 
resembles Crataegus pyracantha. The narrowness of the 
leaves and the tomentum beneath make it distinct from that 
plant, however, while the berries contain five one-seeded 
stones, so that it is truly a Cotoneaster. 
Mr. Vilmorin informs us that “C. angustifolia was first 
described by Franchet in the Plantae Delavayanae, III. p. 221 
