Cotoneaster niger, (Thunb.) Fries

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1981, Flora Europaea. Volume 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae, Cambridge University Press : 73

7. C. niger (Thunb.) Fries , Summa Veg. Scand. 175 (1846)

(C. orientalis A. Kemer , C. melanocarpus Loddiges ex C. K. Schneider ).

Deciduous shrub up to 2-2-5 m. Young twigs more or less pubescent, the older glabrous, shining, reddish-brown. Leaves up to 5 cm, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse or sometimes subacute and mucronulate, especially on the long shoots, dark green and sparsely pubescent above at first, whitishtomentose beneath; petiole 1-5 mm. Flowers 3—8(—15) in nodding, pubescent or almost glabrous cymes. Calyx glabrous or slightly pubescent; petals reddish or reddish-white. Fruit 6-9 mm, subglobose, black, pruinose; pyrenes 2. N., E. & E.C. Europe, southwards to Macedonia. Bu Cz Da Hu Ju No Po Rm Rs (N, B, C. W, K, E) Su.

C. matrensis Domokos , Mitt. Kgl. Ungar. Gartenb.-Lehranst. 7: 50 (1941), from Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and C. alaunicus Golitsin , Nov. Syst. Pl. Vase. (Leningrad) 1964: 145 (1964), from C. Russia, are probably hybrids of 3 and 7 or variants of 7. They need further study. Sect. CHAENOPETALUM Koehne. Petals patent, white (rarely pink).