Cotoneaster angustifolius Franchet, Pl. Delavay., 221. 1890 (as angustifolia)

Plants 20–40 dm. Stems: thorns sparse; young twigs tomentose, hairs dense grayish or yellowish (glabrescent 2d year). Leaves: stipules 4–8 mm; petiole 1–2.5 mm, ˂tomentose˃; blade narrowly oblong to slightly oblanceolate, 1.5–5 × 0.4–1 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire (sometimes revolute), apex apiculate, obtuse, or retuse, surfaces gray-tomentose (abaxial remaining gray-tomentose, adaxial glabrescent). Inflorescences 2–4 cm diam. Pedicels 1–3 mm, gray-tomentose. Flowers 3–8 mm diam.; hypanthium gray-tomentose; ˂calyx persistently gray-tomentose˃, sepals triangular, 1 mm, apex acute; petals suborbiculate, 3–4 mm, apex rounded. Pomes red, ˂depressed globose˃, 4–8 mm diam.; pedicels 2–5 mm.

Flowering Feb–May; fruiting Nov–Mar. Disturbed areas, fencerows, abandoned fields, roadsides; 0–200 m; introduced; Calif.; Asia (China); introduced also in Africa (South Africa), Pacific Islands (Hawaii, New Zealand), Australia.

Pyracantha angustifolia is native to southwestern China. It is widely cultivated in North America but apparently naturalized only within California. The dense abaxial leaf indument can thin with age, but the distinctive dense hairs are found also on the sepals, even in fruit. The narrowly oblong to slightly oblanceolate, entire leaves are also diagnostic.