Scientific: Pyracantha hybrids (a complex scene of horticultural
hybrids)
Common: Called 'firethorn' or just plain 'pyracantha'.
More Taxonomy: The five most popular species are scarlet firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea), Formosa firethorn (Pyracantha koidzumii), Roger's firethorn (Pyracantha rogersiana), Chinese firethorn (Pyracantha fortuneana or Pyracantha crenatiserrata), and narrow-leaf firethorn (Pyracantha angustifolia).
Family: Rosaceae (rose family)
Origin: Eurasia. Collectively, the five species of Pyracantha
are broadly distributed from the
eastern Mediterranean region and central Europe across to Asia to China and Taiwan
(formerly Formosa).
Pronounciation: Pie-ra-CAN-tha SPEE-shees
Hardiness zones:
Sunset 4-24
USDA 7-11
Landscape Use: Varies landscape uses depending on cultivar and growth habit ranging from ground cover, background screen, informal hedge, barrier, winter (fruit) and spring (flower) accent, espalier, to landscape topiary. Pyracantha can even be used as 'colorful landscape bowling balls', which is a metaphysical certainty once the 'Horticultural clods of Phoenix' (aka 'Hort clods') take over any landscape maintenance account.
Form & Character: Stiff and upright to prostrate and spreading, informal, colorful, mildly dangerous, oriental, mesic.
Growth Habit: Evergreen, woody, broadleaf perennial shrub, growth rates range from slow to fast depending on cultivar. Growth rate of vigorous cultivars is very rapid and can reach 20 feet tall; whereas, prostrate forms typically grow slow.
Foliage/Texture: Pyracantha coccinea has ovate leaves that taper to an acuminate tip, serrate to dentate, to 1.5-inches long when mature, new foliage can be densely pubescent. Pyracantha koidzummii, has lighter green leaves, oblanceolate to espatulate to 2-inches long, leaf tips are rounded to slightly emarginate. Both species (mostly seedlings) often have the presence of a stipular thorn on a smooth dark brown stem and are plants of medium texture.
Flowers & Fruits: Corymbs of small white perfect flowers on terminal meristems in spring followed by clusters of green turning orange to bright red fruits (fruits are actually small pomes, not berries as commonly referenced) in fall and early winter. Fruit color of Pyracantha coccinea is scarlet red, 1/4 inch in diameter. Fruit color of Pyracantha koidzummii is orange-scarlet, 1/4 inch in diameter with head of fruit somewhat flattened.
Seasonal Color: White flowers in Spring and orange or red fruit in late fall/early winter.
Temperature: Tolerant
Light: Full sun, but no full western exposures.
Soil: Iron chlorosis in highly alkaline, wet soils is the biggest problem in Phoenix.
Watering: Mostly regular irrigations in southwest deserts. Little to no supplemental water needed along California coastal valleys or in the southeast US.
Pruning: Selectively remove off new growth in mid spring after flower and again in early to mid-fall to reveal and expose fully the fruits for late fall and early winter accent display. Also be careful to selectively remove any growth of the vigorous seedling rootstock in the case of grafted cultivars.
Propagation: Softwood or semi-hardwood stem cuttings, cultivars are usually grafted onto seedling rootstock.
Disease and Pests: The bacterial disease fireblight is pyracantha's biggest problem (except in arid cities such as Phoenix where fireblight is rare). Aphids and spider mites also occur.
Additional comments: There are many Pyracantha hybrids and cultivars of varied form and fruit color. Because of the complexity of the hybridation of the five species, one will need to resort to specifying firethorn or Pyracantha in the landscape by cultivar name. Desirable hybrids and cultivated varieties include:
Myth buster: One of the myths about firethorn is that the fruits are poisonous. If you've ever watched birds feast on firethorn fruits, then perhaps you have wondered if they were indeed poisonous. Birds will simply devour the delicious ripe fruit and might become intoxicated
if the fruit is over ripe (containing a bit of alcohol). Ingestion of over ripe
fruit will cause birds to do all sorts of weird, stupid stuff such as fly into windows, drop off
perches and power lines, or chirp endlessly.
The fact is, Pyracantha fruits (little apples) are entirely edible and there is at
least one recipe I've discovered for Pyracantha jelly. If you have
a surplus of Pyracantha berries in the fall/winter and would just
as soon the birds did not rob you of them, then you might enjoy the
taste of Pyracantha jelly. It is quite tasty, much like apple jelly
in appearance and flavor.
Here is a recipe for you aspiring chefs:
To extract the juice, boil a pound of fruits in 3/4 cup of water
for one minute. Strain the juice through clean cloth. To one cup
juice, add one teaspoon lemon juice and package powdered pectin.
Bring it to hard boil; add 3/4-cup sugar and then continue a rolling boil
for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour into hot, sterilized jars.