Bullate cotoneaster

Cotoneaster bullatus Bois var. macrophyllus Rehder & E. H. Wilson in C. S. Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 1: 164. 1912 (as bullata var. macrophylla)

Shrubs, 2–5 m. Stems erect, arching; branches distichous or spiraled, maroon to brown, ˂lenticellate˃, initially pilose-strigose. Leaves deciduous; petiole 0–3 mm, pilose-strigose; blade elliptic, sometimes ovate-elliptic, rarely obovate, (50–)70–124(–210) x (24–)30–55(–90) mm, subcoriaceous, base cuneate, obtuse, truncate, or auriculate, margins flat, not revolute, veins 8–11, deeply sunken, apex long-acuminate, sometimes acute on short shoots, abaxial surfaces light green, initially yellowish strigose, adaxial green, shiny, not glaucous, strongly wrinkled or bulging between lateral veins (bullate), initially sparsely pilose; ˂fall leaves intense butter yellow and reddish purple˃. Inflorescences on fertile shoots 60–120 mm with 4 leaves, 8–32-flowered, lax. Pedicels 2–4 mm, pilose-strigose. Flowers (5–)7–9 mm, closed; hypanthium shallowly cupulate, ˂shiny˃, sparsely pilose-strigose; sepals: margins villous, apex acute, surfaces ˂shiny˃, glabrous; petals erect-incurved, pink, red, greenish pink, or maroon, margins pink; stamens 20–23, filaments pink, white distally, anthers white; styles (4 or)5. Pomes bright to dark red, obovoid, broadly obovoid, or obconic, rarely globose or depressed-globose, 8–12.4 x 7–11.3 mm, shiny, not glaucous, sparsely pilose; sepals flat, glabrous; navel closed; style remnants 3/4 from base. Pyrenes (4 or)5.

Flowering May–Jun; fruiting Sep–Dec. Thickets, disturbed forests, flood plains, lakeshores; 0–200 m; introduced; B.C.; Alaska, Wash.; Asia (China); introduced also in Europe.

Reports of Cotoneaster bullatus (treated as C. bullatus var. bullatus by L. Lingdi and A. R. Brach 2003) from British Columbia (J. Pojar 1999) are here referred to C. rehderi.