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Pyracantha 'Shawnee'

(Firethorn)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Firethorn

Description

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Family Rosaceae

Trees , shrubs , or herbs, deciduous or evergreen . Stems erect , scandent , arching , prostrate , or creeping , armed or unarmed . Buds usually with several exposed scales , sometimes with only 2. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, simple or compound ; stipules paired , free or adnate to petiole , rarely absent, persistent or deciduous; petiole usually 2-glandular apically; leaf blade often serrate at margin , rarely entire. Inflorescences various, from single flowers to umbellate , corymbose , racemose or cymose-paniculate. Flowers usually actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual and then plants dioecious. Hypanthium (formed from basal parts of sepals, petals, and stamens) free from or adnate to ovary, short or elongate . Sepals usually 5, rarely fewer or more, imbricate; epicalyx segments sometimes also present. Petals as many as sepals, inserted below margin of disk, free, imbricate, sometimes absent. Disk lining hypanthium, usually entire, rarely lobed . Stamens usually numerous , rarely few, always in a complete ring at margin of or above disk; filaments usually free, very rarely connate ; anthers small, didymous , rarely elongate, 2-locular. Carpels 1 to many, free, or ± connate and then adnate to inner surface of cupular receptacle; ovary inferior, semi-inferior, or superior; ovules usually 2 in each carpel, rarely 1 or several, anatropous , superposed . Styles as many as carpels, terminal , lateral , or basal, free or sometimes connate. Fruit a follicle, pome, achene, or drupe, rarely a capsule, naked or enclosed in persistent hypanthium and sometimes also by sepals. Seeds erect or pendulous, sometimes winged , usually exalbuminous , very rarely with thin endosperm; cotyledons mostly fleshy and convex abaxially, rarely folded or convolute.

Between 95 and 125 genera and 2825-3500 species: cosmopolitan , mostly in N temperate zone; 55 genera (two endemic) and 950 species (546 endemic) in China.

Many plants of this family are of economic importance and contribute to people s livelihoods. The Rosaceae contain a great number of fruit trees of temperate regions . The fruits contain vitamins, acids, and sugars and can be used both raw and for making preserves, jam, jelly, candy, various drinks, wine, vinegar, etc. The dried fruits of the genera

Amygdalus and Armeniaca are of high commercial value. Some plants in the genus Rosa containing essential oils or with a high vitamin content are used in industry . Rosaceae wood is used for making various articles, stems and roots are used for making tannin extract, and young leaves are used as a substitute for tea. Numerous species are used for medical purposes or are cultivated as ornamentals .

The Rosaceae are very well represented in China, with great economic and scientific importance. The Co-chairs of the Editorial Committee (Wu and Raven) here note that the patterns of relationship are complex and the group is taxonomically difficult. [1]

Genus Pyracantha

Shrubs or small trees , evergreen , usually with thorny branches; buds small, pubescent . Leaves simple , alternate or fascicled, shortly petiolate or sessile, venation camptodromous , margin crenulate , serrulate , or entire; stipules caducous , minute. Inflorescences compound corymbs; hypanthium short. Sepals 5. Petals 5, spreading , white, usually suborbicular , base shortly clawed. Stamens 15-20; anthers yellow. Carpels 5; basally ca. 1/2 adnate to hypanthium, apically free ; ovary 5-loculed, semi-inferior, with 2 ovules per locule; styles 5, free. Pome red or orange, globose , with persistent incurved sepals at apex; pyrenes (nutlets ) 5.

About ten species: E Asia to SE Europe; seven species (five endemic) in China.

Further study is necessary to determine the placement of Pyracantha crenulata (D. Don) M. Roemer (Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 3: 220. 1847; Mespilus crenulata D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 238. 1825), reportedly present in SE Xizang, and the recently described species P. heterophylla T. B . Chao & Zhi X . Chen (Bull . Bot. Res., Harbin 17: 302. 1997) and P. stoloniformis T. B. Chao & Zhi X. Chen (loc. cit. : 301).[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Evergreen .

Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May. • Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6-8' tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 6-8' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

A tentatively accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Pyracantha

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 42 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. angustifolia (Firethorn) · P. angustifolia 'Gnome' (Firethorn) · P. angustifolia 'Monon' (Yukon Belle® Pyracantha) · P. atalantoides (Gibbs Firethorn) · P. coccinea (Firethorn) · P. coccinea 'Gnozam' (Gnome® Pyracantha) · P. coccinea 'Harlequin' (Variegated Scarlet Firethorn) · P. coccinea 'Kasan' (Kasan Pyracantha) · P. coccinea 'Lalandei' (Firethorn) · P. coccinea 'Lowboy' (Lowboy Pyracantha) · P. crenato-serrata (Firethorn) · P. crenulata (Nepal Firethorn) · P. fortuneana (Chinese Firethorn) · P. fortuneana 'Graberi' (Graber's Pyracantha) · P. koidzumii (Formosa Firethorn) · P. koidzumii 'Santa Cruz' (Formosa Firethorn) · P. koidzumii 'Victory' (Victory Pyracantha) · P. rogersiana (Rogers Firethorn) · P. x 'Mohave' (Mohave Pyracantha) · P. x 'Monelf' (Red Elf Pyracantha) · P. 'Apache' (Firethorn) · P. 'Dart's Red' (Firethorn) · P. 'Fiery Cascade' (Firethorn) · P. 'Golden Charmer' (Firethorn) · P. 'Golden Dome' (Firethorn) · P. 'Gold Rush' (Firethorn) · P. 'Mohave' (Firethorn) · P. 'Mojave' (Mojave Pyracantha) · P. 'Navaho' (Firethorn) · P. 'Orange Charmer' (Firethorn) · P. 'Orange Glow' (Firethorn) · P. 'Red Column' (Firethorn) · P. 'Red Elf' (Firethorn) · P. 'Sappho Orange' (Firethorn) · P. 'Sappho Red' (Firethorn) · P. 'Sappho Yellow' (Firethorn) · P. 'Shawnee' (Firethorn) · P. 'Soleil D'or' (Soleil D'or Firethorn) · P. 'Sparkler' (Firethorn) · P. 'Teton' (Firethorn) · P. 'Tiny Tim' (Firethorn) · P. 'X watereri' (Firethorn)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Cuizhi Gu, Chaoluan Li, Lingdi Lu, Shunyuan Jiang, Crinan Alexander, Bruce Bartholomew, Anthony R. Brach, David E. Boufford, Hiroshi Ikeda, Hideaki Ohba, Kenneth R. Robertson & Steven A. Spongberg "Rosaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 46. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Ku Tsue-chih, Stephen A. Spongberg "Pyracantha". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 108. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-21