Cotoneaster pannosus Franch., Rosaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results: 

Evaluate, score: 5 (Go to the risk assessment (Australia))
High risk, score: 7 (Go to the risk assessment (Pacific))

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: zhan mao xun zi

English: silver-leaf cotoneaster

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Shrubs semievergreen, to 2 m tall. Branchlets dark grayish brown or purplish brown, thin, initially densely white tomentose, glabrescent. Petiole 2-7 mm, tomentose; stipules caducous, linear, pubescent; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, elliptic, or ovate, 2-3 (-4) x 0.8-1.5 cm, leathery, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 4-6 pairs, abaxially densely white tomentose, adaxially slightly pubescent or glabrous, base broadly cuneate, apex obtuse or acute. Corymbs 1-3 x 1.5-2.5 cm, to 10 (-20)-flowered; rachis and pedicels densely tomentose; bracts caducous, linear, pubescent. Pedicel 2-3 mm. Flowers 7-8 mm in diameter. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially densely tomentose. Sepals triangular, apex shortly acuminate or acute. Petals spreading, white, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 3-3.5 mm, base shortly clawed and puberulous adaxially, apex obtuse. Stamens 20, nearly as long as petals; anthers purplish red. Ovary pubescent apically; styles 2(or 3), free, ca. as long as stamens. Fruit dark red, globose or ovoid, 7-8 mm in diameter, pyrenes often 2"  (Flora of China online).

"[S]hrub up to 2 m tall with simple, elliptic leaves 1-2.5 cm long, flowers in dense corymbs, carpels 2-5, and fruit a globose to ellipsoid, dull red pome ca. 6 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1100, 1859).

Habitat/ecology:  "Grassland, coastal beaches and scrub.  The species thrives in poor and droughty soils and shades out native sun-loving plant species.  Eventually, large areas of native vegetation may become displaced by cotoneasters.  The shrub has a strong and deep root system and branches profusely at ground level"  (Weber, 2003; p. 123).

Moist and wet forest areas, roadsides, openings, at 3,000-6,500 ft. elevation in Hawai‘i.

Propagation:  Bird-dispersed fruit.

Native range:  China (Sichuan, Yunnan) (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 88) Cultivated?
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1100) Occasional reproduction.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Parker, James L./Parsons, Bobby (2012) (p. 72) Voucher cited: J. Parker & R. Parsons BIED127 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy W./Wagner, Warren L. (1995) (p. 49) Vouchers cited: K.R. Wood & S. Perlman 2878 (PTBG), Lorence & Flynn 7603 (PTBG) Naturalized in diverse mesic forest, 1000-1300 m elevation.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Herbarium Pacificum Staff (1999) (p. 8) East Maui. Voucher cited: C. Imada, W. Char & C. Morden 98-10 (BISH)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 121) Vouchers cited: MacKee 28343, MacKee 42846

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive	Harley, Barbara (2009)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) "Thickets, rocky places, waste places in mountain regions, slopes; 1100--3200 m. Sichuan, Yunnan".
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Comments:  Would be a threat only at higher elevations in the tropics.

Other cotoneasters, with their bird-dispersed fruits, should be avoided as well.

Control: 

Physical: Pull young plants. Smother seedlings with mulch or black plastic.

Chemical: Cut branches back to stump and treat stump with 100 percent glyphosate herbicide.

Additional information:
Report (PDF format) from US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawaii "Plants of Hawaii".
Information from "Invasive plants of Asian origin established in the United States and their natural enemies, volume 1" (PDF format).
Information and photos at Weeds of Blue Mountains bushland.

Additional online information about Cotoneaster pannosus is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cotoneaster pannosus as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cotoneaster pannosus may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bailey, L. H./Bailey, E. Z. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York. 1290 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Harley, Barbara. 2009. Weeds of Blue Mountains bushland. (online resource).

Herbarium Pacificum Staff. 1999. New Hawaiian plant records for 1998. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1998. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 58:3-11.

Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy W./Wagner, Warren L. 1995. Contributions to the flora of Hawai‘i. III. New additions, range extensions, and rediscoveries of flowering plants. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 41:19-58.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Parker, James L./Parsons, Bobby. 2012. New plant records from the Big Island for 2010-2011. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2011. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 113:65-74.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.

Zheng, Hao/Wu, Yun/Ding, Jianqing/Binion, Denise/Fu, Weidong/Reardon, Richard. 2004. Invasive plants of Asian origin established in the United States and their natural enemies, volume 1. FHTET-2004-05. U.S. Forest Service, Morgantown.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).