Chinese Firethorn

Shrubs to 3 m tall. Lateral branches short, thornlike; young branchlets rusty pubescent, dark brown and glabrescent when old. Petiole glabrous or initially slightly pubescent; stipules not seen; leaf blade obovate or obovate-oblong, 1.5–6 × 0.5–2 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate, margin serrate with teeth incurved, apex obtuse or emarginate, sometimes shortly apiculate. Compound corymb rather loose, 3–4 cm in diam.; peduncle subglabrous; bracts caducous, lanceolate. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, subglabrous. Flowers ca. 1 cm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially glabrous. Sepals triangular, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous, margin entire, apex obtuse. Petals suborbicular, ca. 4 × 3 mm, apex rounded or obtuse. Stamens 20; filaments 3–4 mm. Ovary densely white pubescent apically; styles ca. as long as stamens. Pome orangish red or dark red, subglobose, ca. 5 mm; fruiting pedicel 2–5 mm; sepals persistent, erect. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Aug–Nov. 2n = 34*.

Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Thickets, stream sides, roadsides; 500--2800 m.

Photinia fortuneana Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, sér. 3, 19: 179. 1874; P. crenatoserrata Hance; Pyracantha crenatoserrata (Hance) Rehder (1931); P. crenulata var. yunnanensis M. Vilmorin ex Mottet (1913); P. gibbsii var. yunnanensis (M. Vilmorin ex Mottet) A. Osborn (1919); P. yunnanensis (M. Vilmorin ex Mottet) Chittenden (1921).