Pyracantha coccinea (Firethorn)

Common Name: Firethorn

Pyracantha coccinea is an upright, evergreen shrub with glossy eliptical leaves and spiny stems. Clusters of white flowers are produced in early summer followed by red berries lasting through autumn and into early winter.

It has been cultivated in gardens in the UK since the late 16th century. It is usually found deliberately planted or as a garden escape, throw-out or relic of cultivation in hedgerows and amenity areas and on roadsides, banks, railways and waste ground, and in walls, pavement cracks and quarries.

It reproduces readily from seed, and is often naturalized. However, it is also possible that the species could be slightly over-recorded due to hybridization with other taxa, the presence of other, less familiar, species in gardens, and the large number of cultivars.

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