Cotoneaster microphyllusWall. ex Lindl.

WFO wfo-0001005347 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by John Barkla
fig. a John Barkla, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-03-20 / obs. 116569597
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by John Barkla
fig. b John Barkla, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 35546473
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by Susan Marley
fig. c Susan Marley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164282525
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by Jon Sullivan
fig. d Jon Sullivan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 1993516
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by John Barkla
fig. e John Barkla, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 116569605
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by naturewatchwidow
fig. f naturewatchwidow, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193455327
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by Tim Reed
fig. g Tim Reed, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 2909596
Cotoneaster microphyllus, photographed by jacobkaiwai
fig. h jacobkaiwai, CC0 1.0 / obs. 65712562

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 9 botanical countries

Regions where Cotoneaster microphyllus is native: China South-Central, Tibet, Assam, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya China South-CentralTibetAssamEast HimalayaIndiaMyanmarNepalPakistanWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Cotoneaster microphyllus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
Tibet CHT

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 147 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -17.8 °C -3.5 °C 8.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 9.7 °C 17.5 °C 21.6 °C
Annual rainfall 701 mm 1,474 mm 3,548 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 25 mm 109 mm 356 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 147 research-grade observations of Cotoneaster microphyllus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 28 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cotoneaster astrophoros J.Fryer & E.C.Nelson
  • Cotoneaster buxifolius f. melanotrichus Franch.
  • Cotoneaster buxifolius f. vellaeus Franch.
  • Cotoneaster buxifolius var. vellaeus (Franch.) G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster cashmiriensis G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster cochleatus f. melanotrichus (Franch.) G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster elatus G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster emarginatus Hoffmanns. ex Schldtl.
  • Cotoneaster emarginatus Hoffmanns. ex Schltdl.
  • Cotoneaster glacialis (Hook.f. ex Wenz.) Panigrahi & Arv.Kumar
  • Cotoneaster melanotrichus (Franch.) G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus Wall.
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus f. melanotrichus (Franch.) Hand.-Mazz.
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus var. glacialis Hook.f. ex Wenz.
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus var. melanotrichus (Franch.) Rehder
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus var. microphyllus
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus var. nivalis G.Klotz
  • Cotoneaster microphyllus var. vellaeus (Franch.) Rehder & E.H.Wilson
  • Cotoneaster nivalis (G.Klotz) Panigrahi & Arv.Kumar
  • Cotoneaster procumbens G.Klotz
  • Mespilus microphylla (Wall. ex Lindl.) Ohlend.
  • Pyrus astrophora (J.Fryer & E.C.Nelson) M.F.Fay & Christenh.
  • Pyrus cashmiriensis (G.Klotz) M.F.Fay & Christenh.
  • Pyrus elata (G.Klotz) M.F.Fay & Christenh.

and 4 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.