27] 3
COTONEASTER vulgaris.
Common Cotoneaster.
ICOSANDRIA Pentagynia.
Gen. Char. Flowers polygamous. Calyx turbinate.,
with 5 short teeth. Petals 5, small, erect.
Stamens erect, the length of the teeth of the
calyx. Fruit turbinate, with its nuts adhering
to the side of the calyx, but not cohering in the
centre.—-Lindley.
Spec. Char. Leaves oval, entire, downy beneath,
mucronate. Calyx (or germen of some authors)
smooth. Styles three or four.
Syn. Cotoneaster vulgaris. Hook, in FI. Lond. N. S.
t. 211. Br. FI. 221. Hindi. Syn. 104.
Mespilus Cotoneaster. Linn. Sp. PI. 686. Sm. Engl.
FI. 4. 268.
T h e discovery of this plant, as a native of Britain, has
been attributed, until lately, to Mr. W. Wilson, who observed
it, without fructification, upon the cliffs of Llandudno,
Ormeshead, in North Wales, about the year 1821, and
communicated specimens, in fruit, gathered in 1825, to the
author of the English Flora: but a claim has at length been
set up in behalf of J . W. Griffith, Esq. of Garn, who is said
to possess a specimen gathered, by himself, so early as 1783;
but u unfortunately he laid it by, instead o f describing and
communicating it to Sir J. E. Smith.*” The publication of
English Botany commenced in 1790; and it is probable that
in the interval between that time and the original detection
* Faunula Grustensis, by John Williams; printed at Llanrwst, 1830.