Pyracantha coccinea
| Pyracantha coccinea | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Pyracantha |
| Species: | P. coccinea |
| Binomial name | |
| Pyracantha coccinea M.Roem. | |
Pyracantha coccinea is the European species of Firethorn that has been cultivated in gardens since the late 16th century.[1] The tree has small white flowers. It produces small, bright red berries. The fruit is bitter and astringent, making it inedible when raw. The fruit can be cooked to make jellies, jams, sauces and marmalade. It ranges from southern Europe to western Asia. It has been introduced to North America and cultivated there as an ornamental plant since the 18th century.
In England its use climbing unsightly walls seems to date from the late 18th century.[2]
P. coccinea lalandei
About 1874 M. Lalande, a nurseryman in Angers, France, selected from seedlings of P. coccinea an improved form, more freely berrying than the type. A sport has produced a yellow-berried form. These, and further selections, have largely ousted the ordinary form from nursery stock.[3]
References and external links
- ↑ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Pyracantha" notes that it does not appear in John Gerard's Herball of 1597 but was in gardens before 1629, when John Parkinson mentions it, as the "ever greene Hawthorne or prickly Corall tree".
- ↑ Coats (1964) 1992.
- ↑ Coats (1964) 1992.