Deciduous shrub or small tree to c. 5 m tall; stems glabrous to sparsely villous, usually armed with spines to c. 35 mm long. Leaves simple, obovate-cuneate, mostly 1.5–5 cm long, 1–5 cm wide, apex usually 2–6-lobed, lobes often toothed, surfaces glabrescent; petiole 5–27 mm long; stipules large, leafy. Flowers fragrant; pedicels glabrous or sparsely villous. Sepals broadly triangular, 1.5–4 mm long, usually glabrous; petals 4–8 mm long, white; carpels 2, styles usually 2. Pome subglobose, 6–12 mm diam., glabrescent, orange-red to dark red; pyrenes usually 2. Flowers Oct.–Dec.
VVP, GipP, CVU, Strz. Also naturalised SA. Native of the central and eastern Mediterranean region. A widely cultivated hedge plant and ornamental that is apparently becoming naturalised in suburban Melbourne, e.g. near Watsonia and Coburg, and perhaps elsewhere but overlooked due to its similarity to the more widespread C. monogyna.
This taxon is apparently a natural hybrid between C. monogyna and C. azarolus L.
Source:
Jeanes, J.A.; Jobson, P.C. (1996). Rosaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 556–585. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
