Cotoneaster acutifolius Turczaninow var. ambiguus (Rehder & E. H. Wilson) Hurusawa; C. pseudoambiguus J. Fryer & B. Hylmö.

Shrubs deciduous, to 2 m tall. Branchlets reddish brown or grayish brown, slender, initially strigose, subglabrous or glabrous when old. Petiole 2–5 mm, pilose; stipules usually caducous, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, pilose; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to rhombic-ovate, 2.5–6 × 1.5–3 cm, abaxially initially pubescent, glabrate, adaxially pilose, soon glabrescent, base broadly cuneate, apex acuminate or acute. Corymbs 1.5–3.5 cm, 5–10-flowered; rachis and pedicels pilose; bracts caducous, lanceolate or linear, 2–3 mm, pilose. Pedicel 4–6 mm. Flowers 7–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium abaxially initially pilose, finally glabrous or subglabrous. Sepals triangular, 1–1.5 × 2–2.5 mm, apex acute. Petals erect, white, stained pinkish, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 3–4 mm and ca. as broad, base shortly clawed, apex obtuse or erose. Stamens 20, slightly shorter than petals. Ovary densely pilose apically; styles 2–5, free, somewhat not exceeding stamens. Fruit black, ovoid or subglobose, 8–10 × 6–7 mm, pilose apically; pyrenes 2 or 3, rarely 4 or 5. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Sep–Oct.

Mountain regions, semiopen slopes, sparse forests, forest margins; 1800--3000 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.