Cotoneaster franchetii is a species of Cotoneaster native to southwestern China, and Yunnan, and also in adjacent northern Myanmar and northern Thailand. It is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub growing to 3 metres tall.
Cotoneaster franchetii, commonly called gray cotoneaster or orange cotoneaster, is an evergreen to semi-evergreen shrub that typically grows to 10' tall with cane-like upright-arching branches. Deeply veined elliptic to oval leaves (to 1 1/2" long) are glossy gray-green above with a white felty pubescence beneath. Some leaves turn yellow with reddish streaks in fall. Near the northern edge of winter hardiness, this shrub is basically deciduous. Tiny pink and white 5-petaled flowers (each to 1/3" diameter) bloom in early summer (July) along the branches in 5-15 flowered corymbs. Flowers give way to rounded, long-lasting, red-orange berries (1/4" pomes) which ripen in September and October, with some berries persisting on the bush through winter. Fruit is poisonous to humans. It can be invasive in California.
