Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - Winter 1994/1995 - No 58
George Hutchinson

The meeting was a follow-up to the article entitled 'Cotoneasters in Carmarthenshire' published in the Llanelli Nats. News!, 55 Summer 1993: 34-38. Half a dozen members met at the south entrance on a cool but dry autumn afternoon. ideal for studying the genus, with mature fruit and leaves.

Cotoneaster simonsii (Himalayan Cotoneaster) was the first seen - the commonest naturalised species in the County. Leaf shape and size were compared against the silhouette hand-out.

C. henryanus was good to find. The narrow acutely-tipped leaves have a slightly hairy upper surface and some of the fruit are pyriform (pear-shaped). It is an uncommon and decreasing species that was used by horticulturalists in the early days of hybridisation to create some of our modern cultivars. C. glaucophyllus. one of the last flowerers and fruiters of the season, was initially recognised by its medium-sized broadly-elliptic leaves. Several C. x watereri (Waterer's Cotoneaster) were seen. variously intermediate between the parent species - C. frigidus (Tree Cotoneaster) and C. salicifolius (Willow-leaved Cotoneaster). The stones in the fruit of those examined all split into two nutlets.

On the way round digressions were made to see some of the other plants in the park - planted Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia (Black Poplar) with its cuneate wedge-shaped) to rounded leaf bases, and hairy twigs. Colletia armata a remarkably spiny shrub from Chile, and a large maple tree in its autumn tint.

The diversity of Cotoneaster was appreciated with a tall large-leaved C. frigidus (Tree Cotoneaster), with large girth, growing opposite a new planting of the tiny-leaved C. integrifolius (Small-leaved Cotoneaster). Behind was a C. sternianus (Stern's Cotoneaster) shrub, white with tomentose hairs on the underside of the leaves. Another tall old C. frigidus was in copious fruit behind the mansion. The species was one of the earliest to be introduced from the Himalayas (1824) and old trees are sometimes encountered in the grounds of old estates.

Cotoneaster lacteus (Late Cotoneaster) was seen to be a late fruiter with bunches of tiny immature fruit. The leaves have deeply impressed veins on the upperside, and the underside is hairy with a greenish-white tomentum. A few C. salicifolius cultivars were inspected before ending the meeting with a yellow-fruited species - C. rothschildianus.

We are grateful to Mr D. Bannister, Park Manager, Llanelli Borough Council for giving permission to hold the meeting in Pare Howard.