Pyracantha crenatoserrata Seeds | Firethorn
LATIN NAME: Pyracantha crenatoserrata
COMMON NAME: Firethorn
Plant Profile
Chinese firethorn is an evergreen shrub of the rose family, native to Yunnan and Sichuan, where it grows on rocky slopes and at the edges of forest. It reaches two to four metres, with arching, thorny stems, narrow, glossy leaves and flattened heads of small white flowers in early summer.
The berries that follow ripen from green to orange-red and persist through winter, when they are one of the brightest things in a bare garden. The thorns are modified branches, sharp and plentiful, and they make the shrub difficult to handle without gloves and long sleeves. The flowers are small but numerous, and they smell faintly of hawthorn.
Science & Biotechnology
The species is one of several Asian firethorns that hybridise freely in cultivation, which has made the naming of garden plants confused; it is often sold as Pyracantha crenulata or as a hybrid of uncertain parentage. Research on the genus has looked at resistance to fireblight, a bacterial disease that blackens shoots and can kill a plant within a season.
Studies of the berries’ pigments have shown how the colour changes with ripening, and work on the thorns has examined how the shrub scrambles through other vegetation. Its tolerance of shade and of hard pruning has also been measured, since it is widely used as a wall shrub in northern Europe.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden it is grown against a wall, as a dense hedge or as a free-standing shrub, where the winter berries and the nesting cover are the main attractions. The berries are eaten by thrushes and blackbirds, and they can be made into a sharp jelly.
The thorny habit makes it a useful boundary plant, though it needs careful pruning to keep it in bounds. It also tolerates poor soil, air pollution and coastal wind, which is why it is planted on road verges and in car parks where little else thrives.
In China the fruit is used in folk preparations and the leaves are applied to minor wounds, though the plant is better known in the West as an ornamental. Old specimens on a wall can reach five metres and more, and they are best pruned in late summer, after the flowers have set and before the berries colour.
Growing from Seed
Sow in autumn after removing the flesh, and stratify for three months; germination is often slow and may take two springs. Plant out in sun or light shade in any well-drained soil, and water in the first summer.
Prune in late summer, after the flowers have set, since the berries form on the previous year’s wood; cut back the flowered shoots to keep the wall covered. Wear gloves, and cut carefully, since the thorns are long and the cuts they make are slow to heal. Bare-rooted plants establish better than container-grown ones if they are moved in autumn, and they should be watered until the roots reach the wall.
Our Take
A shrub for a boundary or a bare wall, where its thorns, berries and evergreen cover do a job nothing else does as well. Keep the secateurs handy.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Firethorn: