WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Widespread but occasional throughout the UK, mainly in the South. Habitat includes: gardens, parks, allotments, churchyards (where it often escapes from cultivation), woodland, scrub, rough grassland, roadside verges, railway banks, walls, pavements, rock faces etc. Height and spread: Up to 2m. In cultivation in Britain by 1919, first recorded from the wild by 1981.

Stace 4:

Cotoneaster sternianus (Turrill) Boom - Stern's Cotoneaster.

Erect, evergreen shrub to 3m; confused with C. franchetii but leaves 2.5-5(6)cm; anthers white; fruits 8-10mm, sublobose, with (2)3(-4) stones; (2n=68). Neophyte-naturalised; scattered in Britain and Ireland; South West China. Many plants determined as C. franchetii are this. C. franchetii has acuminate calyx-lobes with hairless points ≥0.5mm, a character shared with C. wardii, whereas C. sternianus has apiculate calyx-lobes with hair-less points about 0.2mm.

Key:

• Most leaves >3cm; hypanthium and calyx tomentose on abaxial surface
• Inflorescence with 7-20 flowers; leaves white-tomentose on lowerside

Useful Links:

NBN