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Portrait of Wall cotoneaster

Nature · Shrubs

Wall cotoneaster

Neophyte · from China · deciduous, to 90 cm · flowers late spring · walls, waste ground, limestone

Cotoneaster horizontalis — Rosaceae

Wall cotoneaster is the low garden shrub with flat 'herringbone' sprays of tiny glossy leaves that birds have spread from Chinese-origin garden stock onto walls, quarries and rocky ground across Britain. It is one of several cotoneasters listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act: it is not banned from sale, but it is an offence to plant it or cause it to grow in the wild. The only native British cotoneaster is a different, much rarer species on the Great Orme.

How to spot them

  • ▸Low, spreading deciduous shrub to about 90 cm high and 1.5 m wide, with stiff branches in a flat herringbone pattern
  • ▸Small, glossy dark green, rounded leaves that turn orange and red in autumn
  • ▸Pink-tinged white flowers in late spring, loved by bees
  • ▸Small bright red berries in autumn, which persist and are spread by birds
  • ▸Look-alikes: other garden cotoneasters are taller or evergreen; the horizontal herringbone branching is the giveaway

How to know it

A low shrub whose stiff branches form a flat herringbone pattern, with tiny glossy leaves that turn red and small bright red berries

Wall cotoneaster — Cotoneaster horizontalis.

It is on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, so it is an offence to plant it or cause it to grow in the wild

Wall cotoneaster.

A bee plant in late spring and a bird plant in autumn, its berries are eaten and its seed spread by birds

Wall cotoneaster.

Native to western China and Taiwan, it is one of the invasive escapes of the rose family found on walls and waste ground

Wall cotoneaster.

Its species name refers to the horizontal spread of its branches

Wall cotoneaster — horizontalis.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Cotoneaster horizontalis, family Rosaceae; horizontalis for its horizontally spreading branches
  • •Native to western China and Taiwan (RHS)
  • •Grows to 90 cm high and 1 to 1.5 m wide; the herringbone pattern is clearest in winter (RHS)
  • •Pink-tinged white flowers in late spring are followed by red berries; flowers suit bees (RHS)
  • •Listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it is not banned from sale but it is an offence to plant it or cause it to grow in the wild in Great Britain (RHS)
  • •Frequently bird-sown, well naturalised and sometimes threatening native vegetation, especially on rocky and limestone ground
  • •Cotoneaster means 'resembling a quince', from Latin cotoneum, quince, and -aster
  • •Britain's only native cotoneaster, the Wild cotoneaster (C. cambricus), survives only on the Great Orme, Llandudno

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources