Dark Fruited Cotoneaster

Shrubs deciduous, 1–2(–2.5) m tall. Branchlets brown or purplish brown, terete, initially tomentose, soon glabrate, glabrous when old. Petiole (1–)2–5 mm, tomentose; stipules partly persistent, lanceolate, pubescent; leaf blade ovate-elliptic to broadly ovate, 2–4.5(–6) × 1–3 cm, abaxially white tomentose, adaxially initially slightly pubescent, glabrous when mature, base rounded or broadly cuneate, apex obtuse or ± acute, mucronate, sometimes emarginate. Corymbs nodding, 2–4 cm, 3–15-flowered; rachis and pedicels pubescent; bracts linear, pubescent. Pedicel 3–7(–9) mm. Flowers ca. 7 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially glabrous. Sepals triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals erect, pinkish, reddish, or reddish white, suborbicular, 3–4 mm in diam. Stamens 20, shorter than petals. Ovary pubescent apically; styles 3 or 2, free, shorter than petals. Fruit bluish black, with glaucous bloom, subglobose, 6–7(–9) mm in diam., pyrenes 2 or 3. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Shanxi, Xinjiang [Japan, N Mongolia, Russia; E Europe].

Slopes, sparse forests, thickets; 700--2600 m.

Cotoneaster niger (Wahlberg) Fries; C. orientalis A. Kerner; C. peduncularis Boissier; C. vulgaris Lindley var. melanocarpus (Loddiges) Ledebour; M. cotoneaster var. niger Wahlberg.