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Genus Cotoneaster Medic.
Род 414 (21). КОТОНЕАСТЕР — COTONEASTER MEDIC.¹
Medic., Gesch. Bot. (1793) 85.

Fam: Rosaceae Juss.
Genus: Cotoneaster Medic.
English Name: not found a common name

Description:

Small, richly branched, erect or with a horizontal crown shrubs, rarely small trees. The leaves are successively arranged, simple, entire, deciduous in winter, less evergreen, with short petioles, more often with acuminate, early deciduous stipules. Blossoms small, gathered in small cymose or thyroid inflorescences, sometimes single, most often on lateral short branches, bisexual. Calyx 5-parted, leaflets small, inconspicuous. Corolla 5-parted, petals small, rounded, with a short nail at the base, white or reddish. Stamens usually 20. Carpels 2 - 5, with their outer (dorsal) side fused with the calyx, at the fruit harden like a bone, each nest with 2 seed buds; the styles. 2 - 5, free. The fruit is false, small, almost spherical, with a red or black surface, with a soft floury inside, in which are located 2 - 5 nuts. Insect pollinators. Natural propagation by seeds, partly by shoots.

Economic significance. Due to their beautiful bushy shape and due to their brightly colored fruits, some species of the genus are used as ornamental plants in parks and gardens.

So far, the following alien species of this genus have been tried for outdoor cultivation in Bulgaria: C. horizontalis Decne (from Western China), C. multiflorus Bunge (Asian species), C. simonsi Baker (Northern India), C. rotundifolia Wall . (Nepal), C. microphylla Wall, (eastern Himalayan region), C. frigida Wall. (Himalayan region), C. rugosa Pritz. (China) and others, but incidentally. Only C. horizontalis Decne and C. multiflorus Bunge are now grown in different parts of the country.

Table for determination of the species

1   The fruits are black. Inflorescences most often erect. The lower surface of the leaves with hairs (but not felted) ..................... ……………………………………...............................................................................……….... 3. - C. niger (Thunb.) Fries
1* The fruits are red. Inflorescences most often droop. The lower surface of the leaves with thick hairs (felted) ......................... 2
2   The outer surface of the calyx and the sepals with hairs. Leaves up to 6 cm long, their lower surface white felted ...................... ......................................................................................................................................... 2. - C nebrodensis (Guss.) S. Koch
2* The outer surface of the calyx and sepals bare. The leaves are rarely longer than 4 cm, their lower surface light greenish layered ...................................................................................................................................................... 1. - C. integerrimus Medic.

¹ Developed by D. Yordanov.

From:   „Флора на Н Р България”, том V, Издателство на БАН, София, (1973)

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Cotoneaster /kəˈtoʊniːˈæstər/[1] is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region (temperate Asia, Europe, north Africa), with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China and the Himalayas.[2] They are related to hawthorns (Crataegus), firethorns (Pyracantha), photinias (Photinia), and rowans (Sorbus).
Depending on the species definition used, between 70 and 300 different species of Cotoneaster are described, with many apomictic microspecies treated as species by some authors, but only as varieties by others.[2][3]
The majority of species are shrubs from 0.5–5 m (1.6–16.4 ft) tall, varying from ground-hugging prostrate plants to erect shrubs; a few, notably C. frigidus, are small trees up to 15 m (49 ft) tall and 75 cm (30 in) trunk diameter. The prostrate species are mostly alpine plants growing at high altitudes (e.g. C. integrifolius, which grows at 3,000–4,000 m (9,800–13,100 ft) in the Himalayas), while the larger species occur in scrub and woodland gaps at lower altitudes.

Description

The shoots are dimorphic, with long shoots (10–40 cm (3.9–15.7 in) long) producing structural branch growth, and short shoots (0.5–5 cm (0.20–1.97 in) long) bearing the flowers; this pattern often developing a 'herringbone' form of branching. The leaves are arranged alternately, 0.5–15 cm (0.20–5.91 in) long, ovate to lanceolate in shape , entire; both evergreen and deciduous species occur.
The flowers are produced in late spring through early summer, solitary or in corymbs of up to 100 together. The flower is either fully open or has its five petals half open 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) diameter. They may be any shade from white through creamy white to light pink to dark pink to almost red, 10–20 stamens and up to five styles. The fruit is a small pome 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) diameter, pink or bright red, orange or even maroon or black when mature, containing one to three (rarely up to five) seeds.[3][4] Fruit on some species stays on until the following year.

Wildlife value

Cotoneaster species are used as larval food plants by some Lepidoptera species including grey dagger, mottled umber, short-cloaked moth, winter moth, and hawthorn moth. The flowers attract bees and butterflies and the fruits are eaten by birds.
Although relatively few species are native there, in the UK and Ireland, Cotoneaster species are used, along with the related genus Pyracantha, as a valuable source of nectar when often the bees have little other forage in the June gap. Bees adore Cotoneaster. The red berries are also highly attractive to blackbirds and other thrushes.

Nomenclature and classification

The genus name Cotoneaster derives from cotoneum, a Latin name for the quince, and the suffix -aster, 'resembling'. The name is correctly masculine, though in some older works it was wrongly treated as feminine, resulting in different name endings for many of the species (e.g.Cotoneaster integerrima instead of Cotoneaster integerrimus).[3]
The genus is often divided into two or more sections, though the situation is complicated by hybridisation:[3]

Cotoneaster sect. Cotoneaster (syn. sect. Orthopetalum). Flowers solitary or up to 6 together; petals forward-pointing, often tinged pink. Mostly smaller shrubs.

Cotoneaster sect. Chaenopetalum. Flowers more than 20 together in corymbs; petals opening flat, creamy white. Mostly larger shrubs.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Distribution in Bulgaria: (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.
Distribution:

References: „Флора на Н Р България”, том V, Издателство на БАН, София, (1973), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SPECIES:

Cotoneaster niger (Thumb.) Fries. - Black-berried cotoneaster

E-mail: krnanev@gmail.com

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