Cotoneaster harrovianus Wils.

An evergreen shrub of loose, spreading habit, growing 6 ft in height, and more in diameter; young shoots at first covered with a pale down (which later falls away), afterwards becoming nearly or quite glabrous, glossy, and turning a dark purplish brown, almost black, on the side exposed to the sun. Leaves oval to obovate, wedge-shaped at the base, pointed at the apex, where the midrib is extended into a short bristle (or mucro); 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide; at first sparsely downy above, afterwards glabrous, and bright dark green, covered beneath with a pale yellowish-brown wool, which partially falls away by the end of the year; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers numerously and densely arranged in axillary and terminal corymbs about 11⁄2 in. across; petals round, white; calyx and flower-stalk thickly coated with grey wool, the calyx lobes triangular and pointed. Stamens twenty, with reddish-purple anthers. Fruit red.

Native of Yunnan, China; discovered by Henry, introduced in 1899 by Wilson for Messrs Veitch, in honour of whose manager at the Coombe Wood nurseries, the late George Harrow, it was named. It is most nearly allied to C. pannosus, but has larger, more leathery leaves, and larger flower-clusters. One of the handsomest of cotoneasters in flower. For a note on the introduction of this species, see C. amoenus.