1. Pyracantha coccinea M. Roem. (pyracantha, scarlet firethorn)

Map 2482

Plants shrubs (small trees elsewhere), 2–4 m tall, densely branched, the short shoots usually armed with thorns, these mostly indeterminate (growing into branches) and often with 1 or a few leaves toward the base, even when short. Bark gray to light grayish brown, thin, smooth when young, developing fine longitudinal fissures with age. Twigs gray, short-hairy, soon becoming glabrous. Leaves often more or less evergreen or partially overwintering, alternate or sometimes appearing in fascicles on short shoots, the petioles 2–5 mm long. Stipules 4–8 mm long, lanceolate, the margins few-toothed, shed early. Leaf blades 1.5–4.0 cm long, lanceolate to oblanceolate or obovate, narrowly angled at the base, angled to a bluntly or more commonly sharply pointed tip, somewhat leathery, the margins flat or slightly curled under, finely scalloped or toothed, the upper surface bright green, glabrous, shiny, the undersurface lighter green, sparsely and inconspicuously hairy, at least when young. Inflorescences terminal, small, flat-topped to dome-shaped, relatively dense panicles with up to 40 flowers, the stalks finely pubescent with short, spreading hairs; the flowers subtended by short, lanceolate bracts, these shed early. Flowers epigynous, the hypanthia finely hairy. Sepals 5, 1.0–1.5 mm long, triangular. Petals 5, 4–5 mm long, broadly rhombic-obovate to nearly circular, white. Stamens 15–20, the filaments 2–4 mm long, white, the anthers yellow. Pistil 1 per flower. Ovary inferior, with 5 locules, each with 2 fertile ovules. Styles 5, fused toward the base, the stigmas more or less capitate. Fruits berrylike pomes, 5–7 mm in diameter, globose, finely hairy when young, becoming glabrous or nearly so at maturity, orangish red to red at maturity (rarely yellow elsewhere), shiny, with 5 stones, these 3–5 mm long, narrowly and asymmetrically elliptic in outline, wedge-shaped in cross-section, indehiscent, 2-seeded, embedded in the fleshy middle layer of the fruit, the surface hard, more or less smooth, light brown. May–June.

Introduced, known thus far only from a single specimen from Taney County (native of Europe, Asia, introduced widely in the U.S. from Washington to California, east to Texas and Florida, and north to Indiana and New York; Canada). Ledges of bluffs.

This species is commonly cultivated as an ornamental and in hedges. The bright-colored fruits are long-persistent and provide food for songbirds, which sometimes become intoxicated when they ingest older fruits in which the fleshy layer has become fermented. The shrubs are relatively hardy, but are susceptible to fire blight, a disease caused by the bacterium, Erwinia amylovora (Burrill) Winslow, which causes a rapid wilt of infected foliage and flowers and the formation of small cankers on the affected branches, often followed by death of the plant during the same growing season. This disease also affects pears and some other members of the maloid Rosaceae.