• Perennial woody shrubs, mostly from China, growing from prostrate to 2-4m tall and wide, or more; hardy, fast growing, some deciduous; many formerly used as hedges.
• Flowers are small, white, often insignificant, densely clustered, highly attractive to bees, spring to summer.
• Fruit are numerous, in conspicuous clusters of small berries, orange to red, autumn into winter.
• The weediest Cotoneaster in the Mountains is Cotoneaster franchetii. Other seriously weedy species are C. pannosus, C. lacteus, and C. glaucophyllus.
• Many other Cotoneaster species have weed potential.

Seeds are spread into bushland by fruit-eating birds.

Cotoneaster will grow virtually anywhere a bird drops the seeds. Thickets under tall trees displace local native plant species and shade the soil. Habitat is lost, and other weeds invade.

Throughout the Blue Mountains.

Narrow-leaf Myrtle (Astromyrtus tenuifolia) Lower Mountains); Blueberry Ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus) to 8m; Lillypillies (Acmena smithii varieties) 1-10m; Heath Banksia (Banksia ericifolia) 4m. Use Rhododendrons, Camellias and Photinia for hedges.

As for Woody Weeds. Bag fruit. Send to tip.